Ellisfield / Elsefeld / Elsefeud / Esewelle / Essefeld / Hulsefelded / Ulesfeld

There is an entry for Ellisfield [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU6345/ellisfield/] [accessed 9 July 2018]; it reports a church in it. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 3, 1908) notes: "A church existed at the time of the Domesday Survey, but by the reign of Henry III there were two churches, one dedicated to the honour of St. Martin, the other to All Saints. [...] the church [St. Martin's] underwent a most unsympathetic 'restoration' in 1870, which obliterated nearly everything of interest [...] The chancel [...] was probably built round a smaller chancel, contemporary with the nave, at some time in the thirteenth century." There is no mention of a font in the VCH. Another source, however, notes: "The font is Early English though plainer than usual, perhaps because the material used [chalkstone?], similar to that of the corbels in the east wall, is prone to splinter. It has been repaired in several places, probably in the course of removal from one site in the church to another." This same source informs that the font cover appears to be Elizabethan [source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages/ellisfield_church.html]. The font is octagonal in three volumes: the basin with slightly tapering sides, the narrower octagonal stem, and a small and short octagonal lower base. The cover is octagonal and wooden, almost flat.