Frankley / Francele / Franchelie

There is an entry for Frankley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO9980/frankley/] [accessed 17 September 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Miller (1890) notes this church was "formerly a chapelry of Hales Owen", but mentions no font in it. A font here is listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period [NB: we have been unable to document any other reference to this font]. Brooks & Pevsner (2007) report an octagonal basin of ca. 1661, "with raised triangular pattern; gadrooned stem, 1967". An article on the church at Frankley in The Gentleman's Magazine (vol. 83, pt. 2, 1882: 417) by a D. Parkes, included the following short description: "At the West end is an antient stone font; the upper part is ornamented with simple chevron-work." Parkes (ibid.) further notes about the chapel building: "From the appearance of the most antient part of the architecture, it may be as old as the time of King John" [i.e., 1199-1216], which would put it in line with the early date documented for the original chapel in the VCH [cf. infra]. The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "Frankley was formerly a chapelry annexed to the church of Halesowen. The chapel is first mentioned at the end of the 12th century", but it adds that it did not at the time have right of burial: "Evidently the right of burial belonged to the mother church of Halesowen, since in 1236 Ralph, chaplain of Frankley, was accused of burying a dead body there to the detriment of the mother church, and was obliged to restore the mortuaries then made." Did it not have right of baptism either? According to the VCH (ibid.) "The earliest details in the [present] building date from the 15th century. [...] The chapelry was declared a rectory in 1866", but it must have acquired parochial rights at an earlier date, as it is indicated by registers "containing baptisms 1598 to 1697", starting well before the date of the mid-17th century font. We have no information on the rights of a second medieval chapel in Frankley, referred to in the VCH entry (ibid.) as "mentioned in the will of Thomas Lyttelton in 1481 as Trinity chapel [...] The Trinity chapel was probably destroyed with the manor-house." Interestingly, however, Egnlsih Heritage [Listing NGR: SO9989580409] (1967) describes the font at St. Leonard's: "Font has C17 octagonal basin with triangle frieze and large turned stem, believed to be reconstruction of original".