Norton-juxta-Kempsey / Norton-by-Kempsey / Norton by Kemsey / Norton juxta Kempsey / Norton near Kempsey

We found no entry for this Norton in the Domesday survey. The entry for this rebuilt church in Miller (1890) notes: "A Norman doorway has been preserved; and there is a small window, deeply splayed, which may be pre-Norman. The font is probably of the 13th century." The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes the church of St. James: "The church or chapel at Norton-by-Kempsey was dependent upon the church of Kempsey. [...] In 1269 the inhabitants of Norton complained that Maurice de Tapenhale, vicar of Kempsey, had taken from them baptisms, weddings and churchings which by ancient custom were celebrated at Norton, and it was decided by the bishop's commissioners that the parishioners had such customs, and that mass ought to be celebrated on every Sunday and feast day in the said chapel. [...] The church has been a great deal repaired during the past century, and the south aisle, porch and vestry were added in 1875. The oldest portion of the existing church is the 12th-century nave, which appears to have been lengthened in the 13th century. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt in the 14th century, and the tower may have been added late in the same century […] All the furniture is modern except the 13th-century font, which is octagonal and of irregular form." Brooks & Pevsner (2007), however, state: "Plain octagonal font, perhaps C13, cut down from a round Norman one." It is now [2010] raised on a modern (?) base that is round at the top and octagonal below.