Shephall / Escepehala / Escepehale / Scepehale / Schepehale / Sepehale / Shepehall

There are two entries for Shephall [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL2522/shephall/] [accessed 3 October 2016], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Victoria County History (Hertfordshire, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "The church of Shephall belonged to the monastery of Reading, but was renounced by them in 1151–4 in favour of the abbey of St. Albans. […] The church was confirmed to the abbey by Pope Honorius III in 1219 […] Externally it shows nothing of age […] Within the church nothing older than the first half of the fourteenth century is to be seen. […] None of the fittings of the church are old, except the chancel screen, which is of the fifteenth century […] The font is modern, and stands at the end of the north aisle, while the old font is set in the churchyard, and is so thickly overgrown with ivy that none of its stonework can be seen." Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertfordshire (1911) in much the same terms as in the VCH entry above. An entry in the Transactions of the Hertfordshire Archaeological Society (vol. 9, pt. 1 (1934) reports that "the old font, which is in a very dilapidated condition, may be seen in the churchyard."