Asheldham / Asheldam

A holy-water stoup is noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "In nave--in splay of S. doorway, with trefoiled ogee head and round basin, 14th-century." [NB: he RCHM does not inventory a font in this church -the RCHM does not include pre-1714 objects, although the fabric of the church goes back at least to 14th century -- we have no information on the earlier font(s) of this church]. The Observer [colour supplement 1 January 1973} has a case study of this church as an example of church conversions; disused already in the late 1960s, became a youth centre in the early 1970s; the article in The Observer supplement (ibid.) reports a font, probably of the 19th century, still in the church at the time. A June 2007 report on this building by HUNTER Outdoor Training [http://www.huntertraining.zoomshare.com/8.html] [accessed 10 June 2010] shows the octagonal font inside the building at the time. Looking oddly out of place in the converted biulding.