Aston Tirrold / Aston / Aston Thorold / Aston Thurroll / Aston Torald / Aston Tyrrold / Austenthorold / Eston / Estone / Estune / Extona

There are two entries for Aston Tirrold [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU5585/aston-tirrold/] [accessed 30 April 2015], one of which, in the tenancy of Count Robert of Mortain, mentions a church in it. A font here is described in 'Church notes...' (1887) in the context of some "notes [that] were taken between 1835 and 1840": "The font, a rude cylindrical bowl, with four-sided pedestal with chamfered angles." Drawing of a font in the Harvey Pridham Drawings of English Fonts (MS 56). [Folder Number, Item Description]. University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept., done by Harvey Pridham in June 1888 accompanied by the following description: "Very irregular, circular bowl, Oct. stem, sq. base. Circular bowl, lead lined, sides slightly raked. Flat at bottom, 9" deep, margin varying from 3" to 4". Position, on left looking East, near open W.T. arch. Flat modern cover." Noted in the Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923): "A church existed about 1080 [...] The church in the 12th century consisted of a nave and chancel, but was probably of earlier origin, as in the wall of the north aisle is a reset square-headed doorway of roughly hewn masonry, possibly of preConquest date. [...] The font, which is probably of 12th-century date, has a circular bowl." The font consists of a plain cylindrical basin that appears to have been re-cut around the lower end, as well as repaired near the upper rim, probably where the old cover staples would have been, and an octagonal-to-square pedestal base. The wooden [oak?] cover consists of a round platform on which is the classical scroll ribs around a central pivot arrangement; it appears relatively modern, unless it is a restoration. The whole is raised on a modern plinth.