Kilkhampton / Chilchetone / Kirkhampton / Kylgh

There is an entry for Kilkhampton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SS2511/kilkhampton/] [accessed 11 May 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. There is a 3 July 1821 pencil-on-paper drawing of this font by John Chessell Buckler (1793-1894) in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 36360 - Item number: f.160]; Buckler did another pencil-on-paper drawing of the font on 5 April 1827, this time with the cover and the context around them, which is also in the BL collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 36360 - Item number: f.161] and was probably the basis for a watercolour he did in the same year; the latter is now in the William Salt Library collection of the Staffordshire Archives: "'Font in the Nave of Kilkhampton Church, Cornwall.' Showing an octagonal stone basin with shields carved on each side, with a thinner octagonal shaft. The font has a large wooden lid with panelled sides, a coat of arms, and a moulded gold bird on top. 'J. Buckler.' 14.5 inches x 10.5 inches". Lewis' Topographical Dictionary (1831) reports "a very ancient font" in this church. Noted as an "ancient font" also in Murray's Handbook for travellers […] (1865). Kelly's county Directory of 1910 notes: "the font of granite is a good example of perpendicular work, and bears the arms of the Granville family" [NB: the first Granville in England was probably Richard, son in law of Walter Giffard, both of whom Norman lords arrived in England with William I in 1066]. A 1910 Francis Frith photograph [Frith ref.: 62413] of the interior of the church shows the baptismal font but the font cover is a flat octagonal piece, probably a Victorian replacement of the earlier tall cover Buckden saw in 1827 [www.frithphotos.com/search/england/cornwall/kilkhampton/photos/kilkhampton_62413.htm] [accessed 25 November 2007]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a heraldic baptismal font of the Perpendicular period. English Heritage [Listing NGR: SS2525611340] (1961) notes: "C16 granite font with octagonal bowl has puzzling inscription in inverted Lombardic letters. Continuous frieze runs below inscription, armorial panels carved below frieze, blind panels on stem."