Cransley / Cranesle / Cranesley

The Victoria County History (Northampton, vol. 4, 1937) reports: "The first church on the site seems to have been a 12th-century aisleless building of which only the northwest angle remains on the north side of the tower, but this early structure was entirely rebuilt towards the end of the 13th century, beginning with the chancel c. 1290. The work was probably continued over a period of some years, but completed early in the 14th century. [...] The font in use dates from 1887, but there is an 18th-century baluster font […] with spiral flutings and stone cover in the south aisle". Of the baluster font, the VCH adds: "It was cast out in 1887, but was recently restored to the church from the vicarage garden." [NB: the VCH notes: "The first church on the site seems to have been a 12th-century aisleless building of which only the northwest angle remains on the north side of the tower, but this early structure was entirely rebuilt towards the end of the 13th century, beginning with the chancel c. 1290. The work was probably continued over a period of some years, but completed early in the 14th century", but we have no information on any other font from those periods]. The 18th-century font is described in Pevsner & Cherry (1973): "Baluster type; C18. Spiral-strigillated stem, Corinthian capital, the bowl marked no more than if it were the abacus."