Ludgershall nr. Bicester / Lotegarsale / Lotegarsar / Lotergarser / Lotegarshale / Ludgershall / Lurgeshall / Lutgarshale / Lutgersall / Luttegareshale

There are two entrieds for this Ludgershall [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP6617/ludgershall/] [accessed 4 December 2015], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Lipscomb (1831- ) writes: "The Font, which is ancient columnar and rudely sculptured, has been removed from the east to the west side of the arch, between the nave and south aisle." Noted in Parker (1850) and in Sheahan (1862) as a font of the Transitional Norman period. The Victoria County History (Buckigham, vol. 4, 1927) notes: "A church apparently existed here in the 13th century [...] The font is of the late 12th century and has a circular bowl enriched with foliage of the acanthus type". [NB: the VCH (ibid.) does not mention an earlier church here]. Described in Pevsner (1960): "Font. Norman, circular, the lower part of the bowl fluted with foliage at the foot of the flutes. Rim with a narrow gadrooned band." The font appears to have been re-mounted and probably restored, certainly repaired, as it has a fairly large piece of new stone on the right-hand side of the basin, and the centre part may have been cemented there; although the whole is of a rather crude design and workmanship, the band of palmettes or foliated flutes is actually quite lovely and well rendered; the two patterns around the upper basin side are more irregular, the upper a beaded or pearl string, the one right below, with scallops or gadroons. The wooden cover, round and of two volumes, has a cross-in-a-circle finial and is modern.