Saunderton / Sandesdone / Santerdon / Santesdone / Santesdune / Sauntdresdone

There are two entries for Saunderton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP7901/saunderton/] [accessed 19 October 2015], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Sheahan (1862) writes: "The Church of St Nicholas is conjectured to have stood westward of the present church, at a place which was called Great Saunderton [...] The Church (St. Mary) is a small plain fabric [...] The font is large, circular, and very ancient." Described in the Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 3, 1925): "Before 1215 there were two churches in Saunderton, (fn. 104) which gave their names to the manors of St. Mary and St. Nicholas. The advowson of each church appertained to the manor in which it was situated [...] The rectories were united to form the present rectory of St. Mary and St. Nicholas [...] in 1535. [...] The early 13th-century font has a fluted and moulded bowl, around which is a band of stiff-leaved foliage, and stands on a circular base." The font has no stem, and it is raised on a round splaying piece, very squat and decorated with diagonal ribs, and on a chunky cylindrical pedestal. The round plinth is modern, as is the flat round wooden cover that is topped with a flower finial.