Rodbourne Cheney / Rodbourne Cheyney nr. Swindon

Described and illustrated in Buck (1951): "the church was rebuilt in 1848. The bowl of the font is of octofoil shape, both outside and outside, and is supported on a central shaft surrounded by eight slender shafts, one under each foil of the bowl." A local booklet ('History of St. Mary's Church' notes: "There is no written record of a church on this site in the 13th century but two carved stones believed to be Saxon which have been incorporated into the present building may well have come from a Saxon Preaching Cross, possibly formed in the pattern known as The Tree of Spiritual Life and Knowledge - which would indicate the presence of an earlier place of worship on this site. The larger of the two stones, semi-circular in shape, can be seen below the ringing chamber window, some 29 feet from the ground on the north face of the tower. It appears to be the top of a cross - each point of the carving ends in seven branches , three on each side of the main cross beams. These branches end in knots, thought to represent fruit or leaves. The other stone, rectangular, is built into the West wall of the North aisle and may be part of the cross - if theses stones are correctly identified they are very rare as only a few Saxon crosses have survived in this country" [source: http://swindonia.blogspot.com/2008/02/st-marys-church-rodbourne-cheney.html [accessed 23 September 2011]. [NB: we have no information on the earlier font of this church]