Broughton Astley / Broctone / Brostone

There are three entries for Broughton [Astley] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SP5292/broughton-astley/] [accessed 21 January 2015], but none mention cleric or church in it. Cox & Harvey (1907) report: "a fine Norman stoup, consisting of a slender shaft covered with chevron moulding with a cushion capital, which is hollowed out to form a bason". The basin top is square with a square inner well. The stoup is now [August 2009] inside the church, just inside the [south?] door. The present font appears modern, an octagonal basin with decorated tapering sides raised on clustered columns, an octagonal lower base and an octagonal plinth; both font and cover appear to be 19th-century, but Christopher Jones [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk/broughton-astley-st-mary/] [accessed 30 July 2015] writes: "The font although heavily restored is probably Norman in origin and there is also another unusual Norman item near the entrance this being a holy water stoup with a fine zigzag decoration down the column."