Birlingham / Berlingeham / Brailingeham / Burlingham / Byrlingahamme / Byrlingham

There is an entry for Birlingham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO9343/birlingham/] [accessed 2 October 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Miller (1890) writes: "The Church of St. James' was a chapelry of Nafford; but when the Church at Nafford fell down this church became the parish church"; no font is mentioned in it. The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 4, 1924) notes: "There was a priest at Nafford in 1086, [...] and the church at Nafford was in the 13th century the parish church, that at Birlingham being a chapel dependent on it. [...] This is still the case, though Nafford Church (St. James) was in ruins when Habington wrote, [...] and the exact site has long been a matter of conjecture only"; of the present church, the VCH (ibid.) notes: "The west tower dates from the 15th century, but the rest of the church was largely rebuilt in 1784 [...] The church was again entirely rebuilt in 1871–2 [...] The font is modern". English Heritage (1965) reports: "The ornate font has an octagonal bowl with a frieze of small quatrefoils, foliage to the underside and stem with moulded base", but does not give a date specifically for the font, therefore presumably part of the restoration by Benjamin Ferr[e]y in 1871-72. Brooks & Pevsner (2007), too, report a modern font here. [NB: the Norman chancel arch of the medieval church is reported in the churchyard, but we have no information on the original font of that church]