Morden nr. Poole / East Morden / Mordone / Mordune / Mordvne

There are five entries for Morden [and East Morden] [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/morden-and-east-morden/] [accessed 2 June 2024] none of which mentions priest or church in it. Noted in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1861-1874): "The font is peculiar. It has a rude octagonal bowl on a solid stem, with engaged circular shafts under the angles, and a wide hollow between." Noted in Long (1923) as a good example of "a considerable number of Early English fonts in this county [...] mostly of Purbeck marble, a fact which leads one to suppose that the majority were constructed in or near the Isle of Purbeck, and exported in considerable quantities to other parts of Dorset, and even much further afield. The type consists of an octagonal bowl, with shallow pointed arcading on the sides. The bowl is usually mounted on a thick central, and four or eight smaller detached angle shafts, standing on a low plain base." In The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [http://dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/morden.htm] simply as "an ancient font". Their illustration shows a font consisting of a squarish basin with rounded tapering sides, raised on a central shaft and four outer colonnettes, and a square lower base or plinth. It must have been originally from the earlier church rebuilt in the 19th century. Listed in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble. [NB: there is now [2014] a second font of modern appearance [cf. ImagesArea]].