Pickhill / Picala / Picale / Picall Rokesby / Pykhale

There is an entry for Pickhill [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE3483/pickhill/] [accessed 26 November 2019] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Bulmer's Directory of 1890 reports: "old font, dated 1662"; Bulmer's (ibid.) adds: "The church (All Saints) is an ancient edifice, supposed to have been erected some 700 or 800 years ago, and thoroughly restored both internally and externally, in 1877, at a cost of £3,000. The designs were furnished by the late Mr. Street, architect". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font dated 1686 by an inscription. The entry for this parish [Pickhill with Roxby] in the Victoria County History (York North Riding, vol. 1, 1914) notes: "The church was built about 1150 [...] The font in use is a modern octagonal one of stone on a stem of clustered shafts. The former font is still preserved in the church. The upper half of the stem and the bowl are octagonal and are dated 1686; the lower half of the stem is round with a moulded base which appears to be of 13th-century date." Morris (1931) writes: "Disused Restoration font, dated 1686. The base is perhaps E[arly] E[nglish]." Pevsner (1985), however, notes: "Font. 1662. Octagonal, with initials and simple geometrical patterns." The font appears to be a composite of three parts: a cylindrical lower base, perhaps of the 13th century, decorated with a roll moulding; a plain octagonal stem of two parts, probably a 19th-century addition to the 17th-century octagonal basin; the latter is decorated on the sides by a number of floral and geometrical motifs, as well as sets of initials and a date [NB: we have not yet been able to get photographic evidence of the date panel]. The plain wooden cover is modern, and there is a single metal staple in the upper rim of the basin. The decoration on the sides appears to hint at the basin having being re-cut, but the inner basin well does not support that suggestion. [NB: the lower base may indeed be 13th-century, as is the fabric of the old church building, but we have no information on the whereabouts of the rest of that font]