Lavendon / Launden / Lauendene / Lauuedene / Lauuendene / Lavandene / Lavendene / Lawadene / Lawendene

There are ten entries for Lavendon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP9153/lavendon/] [accessed 22 February 2016], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. Lysons (1806-1833) note an octagonal baptismal font decorated with Gothic tracery. In Parker (1850): "The font is octagonal with panelled tracery and flowers on the sides of the basin." Ditto in Sheahan (1862) probably after Parker. The Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 4, 1927) notes: "Though no mention of the church occurs in the Domesday Survey, [...] it is evident that it was appurtenant to the fee in Lavendon held of the honour of Huntingdon. At the close of the 12th century the advowson of the church of the Blessed Mary was given to the abbey of Lavendon by Hugh de St. Medard [...] The nave and tower and the western part of the chancel date from the early 11th century. The church appears to have been left unaltered till early in the 13th century, when the chancel was rebuilt and both aisles were added. No further structural alterations were made until late in the 15th century, when a clearstory was added to the nave, north and south porches were built, several windows were inserted in the aisles, which, with the nave, were reroofed and provided with embattled parapets, and an additional stage was added to the tower. The whole fabric was restored in 1859. [...] The font is octagonal and dates from the late 15th century; the bowl has shallow sunk panels enriched with delicate tracery and foliage, while in the panel at the south-west is a shield of France modern." [NB: the VCH (ibid.) has the dedication of the church to St. Mary the Virgin. Crockford's and others have St. Michael]. Pevsner (1960) writes: "Font. Perp, with a variety of tracery patterns, also one panel with fleur-de-lis, and one with leaf." [NB: we have no information on the font of the 11th-century church here].