Fordham nr. Chippenham / Fordeham / Forham

There are two entries for this Fordham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL6370/fordham/] [accessed 20 July 2016], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Pevsner (1970) writes: "Font. Octagon, vith very flat blank cusped arches." The Victoria County History (Cambridge…, vol. 10, 2002) notes: "Fordham church was named in 1337 for ST. MARY, […] a dedication that it still bore in the mid 19th century. […] From c. 1850, however, it was usually named, following the 13th-century hospital's dedication, after ST. PETER, close to whose day (29 June) the village feast was held in the 19th century. […] The earliest surviving part of the fabric is in the north aisle: its west wall contains a blocked narrow round-headed window with deep splays, its north wall fragments of two similar ones, suggesting that the church had already reached its present size before 1200. The south aisle doorway, its arch perhaps altered to a pointed shape, is late 12th-century. The church was largely rebuilt in the 13th century […] The octagonal font is 15th-century". Described and illustrated in Cambridgeshire Churches (2005): "The font [...] is a fine thing: very substantial, with an octagonal bowl and shallow carvings of arches on the faces." The upper rim of the octagonal is chamfered and the tapering sides are decorated with pointed arches around cinquefoil windows; plain underbowl chamfer; octagonal pedestal base with equally shallow-carved pointed windows or arches; splaying lower base. The font stands against a wall, and has a flat wooden cover, octagonal; probably modern. One side of the upper rim of the basin is damaged, probably where the old staple cracked the stone.