Sheffield / Escafeld

There is an entry for Sheffield [variant spelling] the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SK3487/sheffield/] [accessed 20 November 2018] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The old (?) font and cover, in the context of the south chancel aisle, are illustrated in a 1819 engraving by Edward Blore (reproduced in Butler, 2007): a chalice-shaped font, round, with mouldings at the upper rim, waist and lower base; the wooden cover is round and low-domed, with a conical upper part and ball finial. There is no mention of the font in Glynne's notes of either of his two visits to this church: 12 September 1825 and 1864 (in Butler, 2007). Lawton (1842) reports a "faculty to remove the situation of the font, and make certain alterations in the Church" dated 5th November 1768. Mee (1941) describes a different font from the ones shown in Blore: "The lovely font has a grey bowl encircled with bronze bands, resting on a marble stem and four bronze niches sheltering figures of three saints and Our Lord with a child in his arms" [NB: this is perhaps the font donated by Freemasons in 1881. It is described in the CathedralPlus web site [http://www.cathedralsplus.org.uk/index.php/front_end/member/100/about.html] [accessed 19 November 2008] "Victorian and a thing of little charm. Placed near the entrance to the church". According to the Rev. W. Odom [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mossvalley/mv2/wo/odom04.html] [accessed 19 November 2008], it is the work of Charles Green (d.1916), a local art-craftsman]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SK3538187490] reports only one fon in it, a "round granite font with bronze supports, 1881". A 2017 entry in the Cathedral's web site [www.sheffieldcathedral.org/news/2017/1/22/making-a-splash] [accessed 20 November 2018] reports and illustrates a totally different font, an even more modern one made totally of metal. [NB: the original building dates from the reign of Henry I, ca. 1100; we have no information on the whereabouts of the earlier font(s) of this church]