Ecclesfield / Eclesfelt

There is an entry for Ecclesfield [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SK3594/ecclesfield/] [accessed 6 November 2018] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Glynne's 10 December 1852 visit to this church (in Butler, 2007) reports: "The font is a bad one of octagonal form, A.D. 1662, with shallow figures alternatively of human beings and roses, restored 1852." Eastwood (1862) writes: "In 1662 the present font was made, as appears from the date engraved around the rim. This [font] was removed in 1825, and thrown aside as not being in keeping with the style of alterations then made. It was restored in 1852". This same source reports from the parish account books the 1764 repair of "font pullies and top". Eastwood (1862) adds: "In 1823 it was determined to entirely repew and otherwise alter the internal arrangements of the church"; as part of this re-arrangement "the capacious ancient font [was] banished to the hearse-house, to make way for an expensive shallow article of more modern shape, now in use in the church at Bradfield." Eastwood reports that "the capacious old font of 1662 […] was restored to a place by the door of the church, so near its right position as the present arrangement of the pews would allow; it was first re-used for baptisms January 4th, 1852. A new basement [sic] was added by the vicar, bearing this inscription:-- '+ Hunc fontem loco pristino per xxvii. Annos amotum vicarius restitui voluit, A.D. MDCCCLII'." Eastwood (ibid.) notes that "The Vicar and the Rev. George Trevor, M.A., Canon of York, being chiefly instrumental in the restoration." Reported in Armitage (1905) as a font dated to 1662 [NB: Armitage and Glynne give the dedication of the church as St. John the Baptist]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a Restoration baptismal font dated 1662. Morris (1932) notes it as a font of the Restoration period dated by an inscription to 1662. Pevsner (1986 c1967) writes: "Octagonal on heavily moulded plinth. The eight panels of the bowl contain a heart, a rose, a fleur-de-lis, a lozenge, and the four numerals 1-6-6-2." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SK3530394220] notes: "Church. Arcade piers of c1200, rest largely Perpendicular. [...] Font: octagonal on moulded plinth, bears date 1662, reworked."