Swalcliffe

No entry found for Swalcliffe in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 10, 1972) notes: "Trchitectural evidence shows that the mother church dates from at least the 11th century, [...] but the earliest known priest is not mentioned until c. 1190 [...] The [present] church was built mainly between the 12th and the mid 14th century, but part of the upper walls of the present nave belong to an earlier church, probably consisting only of nave and chancel and covering no more ground than that occupied by the present nave: the two small, partially blocked, round-headed windows on either side of the nave date probably from the late 11th century [...] The font dates probably from the 14th century, but the crude decoration carved on the sides is later, probably early-17th-century work"; the VCH also mentions a drawing at Bodl. MS. Top. Eccles. b 14 [Bodleian Library, Oxford]. Described in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Font. Probably C13. In the form of a capital on an octagonal column. The bowl has a band of roll moulding with C17 carving above it. The wooden cover is C17." Baptismal font consisting of an octagonal basin the panels of which are brightly painted dark-green, white and red; plain underbowl chamfer; plain octagonal pedestal with splaying lower base; octagonal pyramidal wooden cover with ball finial, painted to match the green of the basin.