Devizes No. 1

No entry found for Devizes in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 10, 1975) notes: "The history of the churches of St. John the Baptist and St. Mary the Virgin is so closely interwoven that for part of its course it must be told as a single narrative. In 1194–5 the churches are called ecclesie. [...] In 1226–8, [...] however, they are capelle and that word was still being applied to them in 1275. [...] But whether called 'churches' or 'chapels' the two have always formed a single cure under a single rector, [...] rector ecclesiarum loci, as he was called in 1322." There is no font mentioned in the VCH for either of these two medieval parishes. A font is noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Octagonal, Perp[endicular], with tracery pattern." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SU0060361610] notes: "Of Norman origin but rebuilt in Cl5 except for chancel, with west tower, aisles and nave"; no font mentioned. [NB: the church goes back to Norman times, but we have no information of the earlier font(s) of this church -- there is no font reported for St. John the Baptist's, also a Norman church -- St. James' church is Perpendicular, but there is no font of the period in it -- St. Peter's has a baptismal font in 13th-century style, but it is surely Victorian]