Shillington / Schutlingdone / Scytlingedune / Sethlindone / Shetelyngton / Shitlington / Shutlyngdene / Suthlingdon / Shytlington

Noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of a group of octagonal fonts made mostly of Totternhoe stone: "Shitlington [sic] has quatrefoils on the sides". The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "There is no mention of a church in Shillington at Domesday, but the rectory and advowson belonged to the abbey [ Ramsey Abbey] from the earliest times. [...] The [present] building is one of great architectural merit, and of unusual design [...] It seems to have been begun from the east about the year 1300, without reference to any previously existing building on the site, unless the difference in width between the aisles is to be attributed to some arrangement of the older church." There is no mention of a font in the VCH entry for this parish. In Pevsner (1968) as a font of the Perpendicular period. The font is of a design common in the Perpendicular period, octagonal all over; the basin has been heavily restored, and the quatrefoils appear to be part of the restoration; by contrast, the octagonal pedestal base and lower base appear to have been mostly untouched since the original carving; the plinth appears late-medieval as well. The tallish wooden cover, octagonal and crocketed along the arrises, is modern, probably Victorian.