Ashley in Test Valley / Ashele / Assele / Asshele / Assheleigh / Assheley / Eissele / Essele / Estle

No entry found for this Ashley in the Domesday survey. Noted in Lewis' Dictionary of 1831 as one of the most remarkable in the county.
The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The church of St. Mary [...] is a small 12th-century building, perhaps of the first quarter of the century. [...] The font is of Purbeck marble, and has a square bowl moulded below, and originally deeper, on a circular stem and square base; it is of 12th-century date, and perhaps early." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SU3840230772] reports: "At W end Norman font of Purbeck marble with square bowl moulded stem and square base." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble ; "the bowl was originally deeper; there are no subsidiary shafts" [gives VCH, 4, 1911 as source]. [NB: of the other Ashleys in Hampshire, the Ashley in New Forest got its first church in 1904; the Ashley in Bentworth does not report a church in it].
A coomunication from Pol Herman (e-mail of 1 July 2025) refers to Lewis' 1831 description of the font [cf. supra] and adds: "Oddly enough, at first glance the current font has nothing special. It looks like a rather modest Romanesque limestone font, probably dating from the 12th century [...] I have the impression that the upper corners of the font’s basin have been chopped off. And replaced by mortar. The font is said to be made of Purbeck marble. But to me the limestone does not quite look like Purbeck marble. The basin shows a horizontal crack in the middle, due to the internal layering. On the upper side I notice a sculpted ring around the water tub [...] This twelfth-century church was probably built to serve Gains Castle, a Norman fortification now vanished. Ashley castle (also sometimes referred to as Gains Castle), was built in 1138 by the powerful Henry de Blois, a grandson of William I of England, and the younger brother of King Stephen. Henry de Blois was the Bishop of Winchester from 1129 until his death 1171, a prolific builder (including of Wolvesey Castle, the bishop's palace in Winchester, and of a number of castles), and one of the most powerful figures of his day in the English kingdom. It is known that, in the middle of the 12th century, bishop Henry de Blois imported (to England) several Romanesque baptismal fonts from workshops located at Tournai (nowadays in Belgium) [...] Today, you can find examples at Saint Mary Bourn, Preshute, Winchester, East Meon and Southampton. The production of these fonts started around 1130, and the quality and renown culminated in 1145-1150. Therefore, because of the above mentioned reasons, a possible hypothesis could be that the font at Ashley is a heavy modified Tournai-type font. Such fonts were often later deliberately defigured, because they showed unacceptable catholic iconography. For example those at Elsloo and Blaton."