Aldbourne / Aldeborne

There is an entry for Aldbourne [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SU2675/aldbourne/] [accessed 2 August 2020]; it reports "1 church. 2.0 church lands" in it. Described and illustrated in Buck (1951): "The font dates from the middle of the fifteenth century when the church was altered and the present tower built. It is octagonal and in each of the side panels of the bowl is a lozenge ornament. This is an uncommon alternative to the usual quatrefoil." Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Octagonal with lozenges on square panels, most probably of the 1660s." The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 12, 1983) notes: "There was a church belonging to Aldbourne manor in 1086. [...] By the mid 12th century a church with an aisled nave and perhaps a central tower had been built. [...] church of St. Michael, so called in the 15th century but perhaps earlier known as St. Mary Magdalene's"; there is no mention of a font in the VCH entry. The baptismal font consists of an octagonal basin adorned with square panels with inscribed large diamond motifs; the underbowl has graded moulding at the top and tapers in to match the octagonal pedestal base, itself decorated with a ring moulding [NB: the 15th-century basin is claimed to have been re-cut into this shape in the 1660s]; moulded lower base. Octagonal wooden cover, flat, with metal decoration and ring handle. [NB: the Aldbourne Community Website [www.aldbourne.org] [accessed 3 September 2008] notes "Correspondence relating to the removal of the font from Aldbourne and the subsequent exchange with Chilton Foliat" -- this appears to be related to the font at Southwick as well -- cf. Index entries for Chilton Foliat and Southwick]. [NB: the church is noted in the Domesday Book and there was a Norman church here, but we have no information on the earlier font(s)].