Finchley / Fynceslea / St-Mary-at-Finchley

No individual entry found for Finchley in the Domesday survey. Pevsner (1951) writes: "Font. C13 on modern shaft; plain octagonal bowl with two pointed blank panels to each face (a C13 development of the Harlington type)." The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Middlesex, vol. 6, 1980) notes: "A church at Finchley was first recorded in 1274, although some of its fabric was probably older. [...] Fragments of carved 12th-century stonework are set into the west wall of the nave and the foundations of a smaller building are said to have been found beneath the floor in 1872. [...] The Purbeck marble bowl of an early-13thcentury font, found in the rectory stables, was installed in 1911"; the VCH footnotes the reference to the font to the 'Newsletter' of the Finchley Society of June 1972: "The Purbeck marble bowl of an early-13th century font, found in the rectory stables, was installed in 1911". The web site of the St-Mary-at-Finchley Parish Church [www.stmaryatfinchley.org.uk] notes: "The Font is an octagonal bowl of the 12th century. It was dug up in the rectory garden, having possibly been buried during the Commonwealth. It was restored in 1891 and placed in its present position in 1953."