Melplash / West Melplash

Reported in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973) as a copy of the broken font at Whitchurch Canonicorum. The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [http://dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/melplash.htm] notes: "the church was modelled on the old Norman church at Shoreham in Sussex and the font is a copy of a broken font found at Whitchurch Canonicorum." [NB: this same source points out that, when part of the church was destined for 'secular' community use in 1975, "the apse became the baptistry", which is where the font can be seen now [i.e., 2002]] [NB: the present church was built in 1846; we have no knowledge of an earlier church in Melplash].