Rayleigh / Rayeneia

There is an entry for Rayleigh [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ8090/rayleigh/] [accessed 19 February 2023]; it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Benton (1867-1888) writes: "Until lately a font of unpretending nature, of an octangular form and lined with lead has been used in this Church, but another of Caen stone, very elaborately carved, has lately been presented in memory of Mrs. Mary Meakens Hilliard by her Husband and children. In the Churchyard, by the side of the path leading to the west gate are the remains of a third and more ancient one that cannot fail to arrest the attention of the antiquary." The old font in the churchyard must have been moved back into the church after Benton's visit, for it is reported inside the church in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Font: In S[outh] aisle half of a square Purbeck marble bowl with round-headed panels in sides, late 12th-century." The British Listed Buildings database [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-123016-church-of-holy-trinity-rayleigh] [accessed 20 July 2010], however, reports: "C19 large octagonal stone font with fleuron and roundel decoration, central stem with 4 attached shafts, square base, wooden traceried pointed cover." This later font may be the one noted in 'The History and Antiquities of the parish of Rayleigh...with a Survey of its Honor', of 1876, with "p. 71 Sketches, including plan and cross-section, of the font in Rayleigh Church; form The Building News, 29 December 1871" [microfilm, ref. TS 143/2, held at the Essex Record Office]. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "half of bowl only" [source given: RCHM, (SE), 1923]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TQ8081490925] notes: "Parish church. C12 Chancel, C14/C15 west tower, Nave, north and south aisles and north vestry. Circa 1517 south chapel and C16 south porch. C19 and C20 restorations [...] C19 large octagonal stone font with fleuron and roundel decoration, central stem with 4 attached shafts, square base, wooden traceried pointed cover" [no other font mentioned in the entry]. -- [NB: John Whitworth [www.essexchurches.info] reports the church closed and undergoing renovation in 2008 -- at present we are unable to confirm the presence of the medieval font -- for information and photographs of the refurbishment, including several of the modern font as it was being relocated, see https://www.parishofrayleigh.org.uk/refurbishment [accessed 19 February 2023]]