Harston nr. Cambridge / Helestone

There are four entries for this Harston [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL4150/harston/] [accessed 13 June 2016]; none of which mentions a church in it; one of the parts, however, was in 1066 in the lordship of four freemen and a priest, which would likely indicate the presence of a pre-Conquest church here; the lordship of that part was in the hands of Odo in 1086. Paley's Guide (1844) has: "The font is a plain octagonal basin". The Victoria County History (Cambridge..., vol. 8, 1982) notes: "A priest held ½ yardland in 1066. (fn. 448) By 1090 Picot had given the church to the canons of Barnwell priory, to whom Pain Peverel confirmed it c. 1112. [...] [the present church] is mainly 15th-century, although the narrowness of the south aisle suggests a rebuilding then on older foundations. [...] An oak pulpit of c. 1450 on a narrow stair survives, [...] and the octagonal font is also 15th-century." The font consists of an octagonal basin with plain vertical sides, and plain underbowl chamfer; the octagonal pedestal base has a moulding at the top, and the splaying lower base is also moulded; it stands on a narrow quadrangular plinth at the west end of the nave, in the centre aisle. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat.