Berkhamsted / Berchamstede / Berchehamstede / Berkhamstead / Berkhamsted Magna / Great Berkhampstead

There is entry for Berkhamsted [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP9907/berkhamsted/] [accessed 27 July 2016]; it mentions a priest in it, but not a church, though there must have been one there. The Victoria County History (Hertford, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "Whatever may have been the origin of St. Peter's parish the advowson of the parish church of Berkhampstead belonged to the abbot and convent of Grestein in Normandy from about 1100 […] The oldest work in the building dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century […] The font, at the west end of the nave, is modern, succeeding a font given in 1662 by Francis Withered, Comptroller of the Works to Charles II", but also reports that "A small piece of the upper edge of the bowl of a twelfth-century font, with an interlacing arcade, formerly remained in the church". Pevsner & Cherry (1977) mention only the modern baptismal font "of Butterfield's time" [NB: William Buttefield (1814-1900), pioneer of High Victorian Gothic revival architecture, was responsible for the restoration of St. Peter's in 1871. The VADS database [http://vads.ahds.ac.uk] shows a drawing in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection of a fragment of the ancient font. The drawing is by H. Dryden and has the date Nov. 1881 on it; it represents a portion of the basin side of a baptismal probably of the 12th century, two feet long, seven and a quarter inches tall, according to the drawing; it shows a band of saw-tooth at the top and an arcade of intersecting arches below; it is reported as being made of an oolite stone. [NB: the location of the fragment is not indicated]. The 'Berkhamsted Review' (No. 27, April 2006) [http://www.stpetersberkhamsted.org.uk/review/2006/04/review.pdf] [accessed 27 April 2009] informs: ""What about a font at St Peter's before 1662? There is a tantalising clue. Cobb in his History and Antiquities of Berkhamsted, writing about St Peter's refers to 'a remnant of a very interesting ancient font'. Norris subsequently records that this remnant was built into the chancel wall of All Saints' church. And there you can still see it - a fragment of the upper part and rim of a round font with a zig-zag moulding above an arcade of intersecting round-headed arches. In form and decoration it looks very Norman and too early to be contemporary with the earliest work at St Peter's, of thirteenth century date. Could it have belonged in an earlier church on this site and been retained because of its sacramental importance to furnish the new building? Is there any other evidence for an earlier building on the site of St Peter's?". Christopher Green, Chairman, St Peter's Church Buildings Committee (personal communication to BSI -- 2009) writes: "The fragment to which you refer is a piece of the rim of a circular bowl and includes the upper part of the decoration on the outside of the bowl in the form of a zig-zag moulding above an arcade of intersecting round-headed arches. It may be a piece of the font contemporary with the foundation of the present church in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. The first recorded Rector was instituted in 1222, but the earliest fabric of the church probably pre-dates this and it's possible that there was an earlier church on the same site, so the font could have been earlier. Stylistically its decoration is definitely Romanesque and therefore more likely to belong in the twelfth than the thirteenth century. The fragment was recorded as being preserved in St Peter's Church in the 19th century, but when a second church (All Saint's) was built in the parish early in the 20th century, the fragment was incorporated, in 1906, into the new church, built into the chancel wall to form a credence table. It survives in the same position to the present day, although the east end of the church is no longer the chancel. It seems likely that this early font was in use at St Peter's until the 17th century, when a new font was presented to St Peter's Church in 1662. This later font remained in use until St Peter's was extensively restored in the 1870s and 1880s, when it was replaced. The 17th century font now serves as the baptismal font in All Saint's Church. "