Beighton / Beccune / Bectune

There are three entries for this Beighton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SK4483/beighton/] [accessed 4 October 2018], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Ecclesiologist (vol. XXVIII, 1867: 344), in its 'Church restoration in Yorkshire' list of horrors, raises a strong protest "against the threatened destruction of Beighton church" and the fact that "the ancient font lies neglected in the churchyard, and serves to catch soft water in from one of the spouts". Cox (1875) writes: "Another relic […] received an honourable burial some eight years ago at the hands of the late vicar. The old font, of rude construction, had been long used to receive water from a spout on the outside of the church, and, as it was too far decayed to be worth recovering, it was saved from further desecration by being consigned to the earth, a decent example that might well be followed in other places. This font was supposed to have been of the same date as the oldest part of the structure; but this is highly improbable, as a visitor in 1816 describes it as 'a plain octagon', a shape never used by the Normans." [NB: the latter quote is footnoted: "Lysons. Add. MSS., 9448]. Cox (ibid.) adds an interesting comment on alternative uses of fonts in a footnote: "In the course of our Derbyshire rambles we have met with old church fonts utilized for the following amongst other purposes -- as a vase for garden plants, as the washing basin of the village school, as a drinking trough for cattle, as a pickling bowl for pork, as a sink in a public-house, and for a purpose which cannot here be named". No font mentioned in the Harman & Pevsner (2017) entry for this church. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SK4427283353] notes: "C19 benches, wooden pulpit and stone font with marble shafts."