Bengeo / Belingehou [Domesday] / Belinghoo / Beneggho / Bengeho / Bengoo / Beningho / Benjow

There are nine entries for Bengeo [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL3213/bengeo/] [accessed 1 November 2016], none of which mentions a church in it; one of the nine entries, in the tenancy of Geoffrey de Bec, mentions a priest sharing the lordship of the place with "a Frenchman" in 1086, which probably means there was a church there as well. The Victoria County History (Hefrtford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "A priest is mentioned in the Domesday Survey as holding land of Geoffrey de Bech. [...] In 1156 the church of Bengeo was granted to the monks of Bermondsey by Reginald de Tany. The grant was confirmed by Henry II in 1159 [...] The [present] church is of early 12th-century date; windows have been inserted in later periods and a south porch was added in the 18th century; the bellcote is modern"; no font mentioned in the VCH entry. The parish web site [http://stleonards.parishofbengeo.com/church/st-leonards-nave.html] [accessed 1 November 2016] informs: "The bowl of the font is Norman work and was rescued from a neighbouring garden in the 19th century. Presumably it had been taken from the church during the Commonwealth period." The present font appears modern but the basin looks medieval; it is square at the top with a broad flat moulding decorated with very shallow round arches, almost indescernible now; plain rounded underbowl it is raised on a modern octagonal-to-square pedestal base decorated with several mouldings. The wooden cover consists of a plain square platform with four vertical scroll ribs around a central pivot; ball finial; appears modern.