Aylmerton / Almertune

The Domesday entry for "Almertune", transcribed and translated in Blomefield (1805-1810), reports "William Earl Warren held a moiety of this town, by the gift of the Conqueror, of which Viulf, a freeman of Edric was deprived", which includes also "the moiety of the church, endowed then with 10 acres". Blomefield (ibid.) adds: "The Church is dedicated to St. John Baptist, and consisted of 2 medieties, both belonging to the Earl Warren's manor. [...] In the beginning of King Edward the First's reign, each rector had a manse and 15 acres of land; the mediety of Thomas, the rector, was valued at 5 marks, and that of John the rector at 5 marks", but the first recorded rector occurs in 1294: "John de Sutton occurs rector, the 22d of Edward I." The present font is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1997): "Font. Octagonal, 1876, with carved leaves in quatrefoils on the bowl." Knott (2005) describes it as "an unfortunate replacement" of the 1870s restoration [NB: the fabric of the church goes back to tpre-Conquest times, but we have no information on the earlier font(s) of this church].