Fringford / Feringeford

There are two entries for Fringford [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP6028/fringford/] [accesssed 7 December 2016], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "A small church of mixed styles [...] The south door-way and two of the nave-arches, are N[orman], the porch E[arly] E[nglish], font is curious." Noted in Kelly's Oxford Directory of 1911 [http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp] [accessed 1 July 2007]: "the font was presented in 1880 as a memorial to Mrs. Anne King, and the old Perpendicular font now lies in the churchyard" [NB: there is no separate entry made for the 19th-century font in this Index]. The Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 6, 1959) notes: "The earliest evidence yet found for a church at Fringford dates from 1103, when Manasses Arsic, lord of Fringford, granted it to the alien Priory of Cogges, which he had founded near Witney [...] When Manasses Arsic granted the church to Cogges Priory in 1103, he also gave its land, the tithe on the 'vill', and two mills. [...] The only remains of the 12thcentury church are a much restored south door and the two northern arches of the nave. The threearched south arcade, of which two of the pillars are decorated with curiously carved grotesque female heads, probably dates from the 13th century [...] The church has had three fonts in recent times. In the early 19th century there was a plain circular one. [...] The origin of the fine octagonal font, decorated with four heraldic stone shields, which was presented in the late 19th century, is uncertain. [...] In 1880 a new font, in memory of Mrs. Anne King, replaced the latter, [...] but both are now in the south aisle." In a footnote of the VCH entry (ibid.) a reference is given to a drawing of the font in the Bodleian Library: " Buckler drawing in MS. Top. Oxon. a 66, f. 264", and an additional footnote points to "E. A. G. Lamborn, Berks. Arch. Jnl. xlv. 115–17, for description of and discussion on heraldic font. He considers Blomfield's story (Fring. 30), that it came from Coleorton (Leics.), unlikely. For arms see Bodl. G. A. Oxon. 16° 217, p. 142; ibid. 4° 686, pp. 146–7; Bodl. 137 e 169/1, pp. 115–17." The entry for this church in English Heritage [Listing NGR: SP6063829131] (1966) reports "2 fonts, one Perpendicular, the other of 1880" in this church at the time. Sherwood & Pevsner (1974) have: "Font. C15, octagonal, with shields carved on four faces. The base is modern." [NB: the entry for Hardwick near Bicester in the VCH (Oxford, vol. 6, 1959) reports a font from this church moved to it in the 1878-1879 re-building of Hardwick St. Mary's].