Sundon / Lower Sundon / Sondon / Sonedone / Sonyngdon

Noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of a group of octagonal fonts made mostly of Totternhoe stone: "Sundon stands on a circular shaft, and has two pointed arches on each side". The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "There is no mention of Sundon Church in the Survey, but the Lincoln Episcopal Registers show that from its foundation, in 1145, Markyate Priory owned the rectory and advowson. [...] The church of Our Lady is, with the exception of its chancel, a very perfect and well-designed example of the second quarter of the fourteenth century. [...] The font stands in the third bay of the north arcade and has an octagonal Purbeck marble bowl on a central and flanking column, the latter being modern. On each face of the bowl are two pointed arches in low relief, and the font belongs to a common late twelfthcentury type." Pevsner (1968) writes: "Font. Octagonal, of Purbeck marble, with two flat, pointed arches on each side."