Alstonefield / Alstonfield / Anestanefelt

There is an entry for Alstonefield [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SK1356/alstonefield/] [accessed 26 July 2019] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The entry for this ancient parish in the Victoria County History (Stafford, vol. 7, 1996) notes: "Although the earliest features of the present church are Norman, Anglo-Saxon carved stones survive on the site, most of them parts of standing crosses. [...] The church's dedication to St. Peter, recorded in 1533, [...] may also suggest a pre-Conquest foundation, that being the most common early Anglo-Saxon dedication. [...] Evidence for a substantial church by the 12th century is provided by the chancel arch of three orders, the south doorway, which is probably reset, and loose stone fragments kept in the north aisle. [...] Two stone bowls kept in the north aisle may be medieval font bowls; one was found in the churchyard in 1936. [...] In 1830 the font lacked a proper basin, and in 1841 the 'old font' was ordered to be placed in a convenient situation or broken up. [...] The present font was given in 1875 by W. Bradley of Farmer & Bradley of London, who designed it as a copy of the font in Ashbourne church; a native of Alstonefield, he gave it in memory of his parents. [...] Alstonefield has the largest number of preConquest carved stones in Staffordshire, most of them parts of standing crosses. [...] The majority are kept in the north aisle of the church, but two are in the churchyard, one of them re-erected in the base of what was probably a medieval cross; another piece, in the south porch in the mid 1940s, [...] has since disappeared. The carving is datable to the period between the late 9th and the mid 11th centuries, and two regional schools are represented, North Midlands and West Pennine. The unfinished state of the carving on two pieces suggests that they were being sculpted on site at Alstonefield." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SK1327755347] notes: "Parish Church. Oldest parts are C12: partly rebuilt in C13 and C14; extended and repaired in C16; refurbished C17: re-roofed C18; restored 1870. [...] C20 stone font [...] At West end of North aisle are several fragments of carved Anglo-Saxon crosses, two stone bowls, possibly former fonts, several fragments of slim cylindrical columns or shafts". The Derbyshire UK web site [www.derbyshireuk.net/alstonefield_church.html] informs that "there is [...] the bowl of a Saxon font, which was dug up in the churchyard, and fragments of Anglo-Saxon or Viking crosses are built into a wall, near the porch". The Parish of St. Peter's web site [www.alstonefield.com/st.peters.html] describes it as "the eight sided bowl of the Saxon font, which is now almost hidden in a corner by the porch". This church has a mixture of Norman, Decorated and Perpendicular styles; the basin is a crude work, but crudeness of workmanship should not be bestowed with automatic age credentials, as Bond (1908) often noted.