Kempsey / Chemesege / Kemeseg / Kemesege / Kemesel

There is an entry for Kempsey [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO8549/kempsey/] [accessed 25 September 2014]; it reports a priest but does not mention a church in it, though there probably was one there. Miller (1890) gives the first recorded vicar here as "Manricius de Tapenhall ... 1269" and an east window of the 13th century in the church here, but mentions no font in it. The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "There was a priest at Kempsey at the time of the Domesday Survey. [...] The advowson belonged to the bishopric of Worcester. [...] the present building has been developed from an aisleless cruciform church of the 12th century"; there is no mention of a font in the VCH, except for the one originally from Pershore Abbey. The modern font is noted in Brooks & Pevsner (2007): "Font, octagonal with Gothic lettering, of 1852." "The baptismal stone font was presented to the church by Robert Nuttall in 1852" [source: Andrew Morrall, www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/5386/htm]. The font consists of an octagonal basin raised on a plain stem and moulded lower base, both octagonal as well; there is an inscription in Gothic lettering running through the sides of the basin [cf. BSI entry for a Norman baptismal font at Pershore Abbey nearby]. The Parish web site [www.stmaryskempsey.org.uk/about_stmarys.html] [accessed 15 September 2011] states the church building dates from the 12th century [NB: we have no information on the original font of this parish church].