Warminster No. 1 / Guermastre / Warmister

There is an entry for Warminster [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST8745/warminster/] [accessed 9 May 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 8, 1965) writes of this church: "The dedication is mentioned in the 12th century. [...] The present church was almost entirely rebuilt in 1887-9. The oldest work which survived in the old building was a small window, thought to be of the 11th century, which was found blocked in the east wall of the south transept. [...] The church was apparently largely remodelled or rebuilt in the 14th century, as a cruciform building with central tower and nave of four bays". The VCH (ibid.) notes that "John Chaffyn of Salisbury charged property in Warminster with the provision of paschal and font tapers as his ancestors had provided them" in 1493, but does not mention a font in this church. The present font is probably dated to the late-1880s renovation by Blomfield. [NB: we have no information on the medieval font of this church -- the VCH (ibid.) reports two medieval chapels in Warminster: 1)"There was a chapel of St. Laurence in the Market Place of Warminster in the first half of the 13th century", and 2)"There was a chapel of St. Nicholas in the manor house of Warminster in the earlier 13th century", but there is no indication whether or not they had a baptismal function -- Christ Church dates from the 19th century]. The National Archives [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/] [accessed 9 May 2015] lists a 1927 petition for faculty: "D/1/61/67/17 - Warminster St. Denys: to move old font to Chapel of St Lawrence", a document located at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. The present font at St. Denys' is modern, of 1889; it is possible that the font moved to St. Laurence is the present Victorian one there.