Cowesby / Cahosby / Colebi / Colesbi / Colesbye / Cowsby

There are two entries [one is multiple-place] for Cowesby [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE4689/cowesby/] [accessed 3 December 2019] neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Sheahan & Whellan (1857) described St. Michael's church as ''a very neat structure of cut stone, rebuilt in 1846, on the site of an old Saxon edifice […] The ancient Saxon font of the old church is preserved in this one, and is supported by four pillars. It is of very great antiquity.'' Described in Bulmer's Directory of 1890: "The only piece of antiquity that has been retained [at the church of St. Michael and All Angels, Cowesby] is the old Saxon font, which is supported by four pillars, and is of elegant design". The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (York North Riding, vol. 2, 1923) notes: "The church of Cowesby is first mentioned in 1227, when it was described as a chape [...] In 1291 it was returned among the spiritualities of the bishop as 'ecclesia.' [...] The living is a rectory"; no font mentioned; the VCH reports that the new church "was erected in 1846". [NB: the font is mentioned in the 'Yorkshire Notes and Queries', vol. 5 (1909) -- full reference not yet available]. It is very unlikely that the font be Saxon; whatever it is, most likely Norman originally, has been greatly altered and the only motif from the original font may be the rope moulding around the top [and even that may have been re-carved]; what is left now is an almost cylindrical basin decorated with the aforementioned rope moulding, and a series of round windows on the sides; these windows are not part of the original Norman (?) ornament; it is raised on four modern columns carved with cushion capitals and moulded bases. The resulting font is most likely the work of the 19th-century; the original font may have been a plain -or almost plain- tub-shaped basin. Traces of the old font cover are the stone inserts in the upper rim. The present wooden cover is round and flat, with metal decoration and ring handle; again, Victorian most likely.