Birkin / Berchinge / Sleepy Hollow

There is an entry for Birkin [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SE5326/birkin/] [accessed 29 November 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Antiquary (issue No. 32, vol. 6, August 1882:.82) describes the font as ''a singular production'' bearing the date 1663. Morris (1932) notes it as a Restoration font with an inscription with four names and the date "1663". Pevsner (1986 c1967) writes: "Font. Cup-shaped with octagonal top. Dated 1663. The only ornament is friezes of small raised semicircles." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SE5303526524] notes: "Font: cup-shaped with octagonal rim dated 1663 on earlier base." The font is a composite object consistsing of a 17th-century basin that is octagonal at the upper rim, with a hemispherical underbowl; there is a row of scallop motif below the parallel rim mouldings; an inscription runs below this, including four names and a date, 1663; the names are probably those of the church-wardens at the time; the inner well has no drain and it is not lined; it is raised on a round odd-looking volume that includes two roll mouldings and a larger platform, also round; the base proper is medieval, an octagonal-to-square pedestal base on a square lower base or plinth. There is no fonter cover present. [NB: although the church goes back to the 12th-century we have no information on the the earlier font(s) of this church]