Cudham / Codeham

The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of Sept. 1804: 832) notes: "The font is hexagonal, lined with lead, with roses similar to those on the old monument, with an escutcheon in the centre, but without any inscription or arms whatever." Noted in Newman (1980): "Font. Perp[endicular]. Shields in quatrefoils on the eight faces." The Cudham Benefice website [http://www.pcd.org.uk/docs/cudham_church_guide.pdf] [accessed 20 July 2010] notes: "The exact date when a church came into existence at Cudham is not known, but there is a record of a payment of 7d for oil in the year AD 953, indicating that Cudham had a priest and a font, and in a Saxon script reference is made to a church here in AD 982. In the Domesday Survey, compiled in 1086, it is recorded that “Gilbert Maminot holds of the bishop Codeham … a church is there [...] The age of the font, which is situated to the west of the door from the porch, is not known; it may be 15C [...] It was moved to its current position, from the other side of the nave, in 1977, but prior to that had been where it is now! Indeed, the font is likely to have been moved several times." [NB: Cudham is noted in Domesday with a church, but we have no information on the earlier font(s) of this church]