Carisbrooke No. 1 / Carbrough / Carebroc / Caresbroch / Caresbroke / Carrebroc / Carisbrook / Casebroke / Kaerbroc / Karesbrook / Karesbrouk / Karisbroch / Karsbroke / Wihtgarasburh

The only entry found for Carisbrooke in the Domesday survey is for the Church of St Nicholas [cf. BSI entry Carisbrooke No. 1]. Cox (1911) writes: "The font is not of much dignity, being obviously a 'make up', probably put together after the font previously in use had been cast out by the Puritans of the Commonwealth. The bowl appears to be I5th century, resting on a reversed font bowl of Transitional Norman date, the two being fastened together by a liberal use of cement. The font cover, of pyramidal shape, is of Jacobean or Carolean date." The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 5, 1912) notes: "Of the Island churches that of ST. MARY of Carisbrooke ranks first in importance as befits the church of the chief manor. Standing on the high ground to the north of the village it forms a worthy pendant to its neighbour the castle, and though shorn of its conventual buildings in the 15th and deprived of its chancel in the 16th century it still remains with its fine nave and lofty tower unrivalled among the ecclesiastical buildings of the Isle of Wight. [...] The earliest building was evidently of the aisleless type, [...] and was certainly in existence in the first quarter of the 12th century. The end of the century saw it converted to the uses of a conventual church, with claustral buildings [...] to the north and an aisle to the south"; the VCH entry also reports "a font of the time of Elizabeth, made up with cement and having a pyramidal oak cover". A description of the font at Shalfleet in Brian Meade (2002) [http://www.shalfleet.net/shalfleet/shalfleet_church_guide.htm] [accessed 8 April 2008] mentions that it "is similar to one at Carisbrooke." Noted in Lloyd & Pevsner (2006): "Early C17. Octagonal bowl with receding moulding below, on a bulbous stem; simple conical cover dated 1602." [NB: as with Shalfleet St. Michael's, Carisbrooke St. Mary's goes back to Norman times, but we have no information on the original font of that church]