Ashwellthorpe / Ashewell / Ashwell / Ashwell Thorp / Thorp

There is an entry for Ashwellthorpe [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM1497/ashwellthorpe/] [accessed 10 June 2014], but it mentions neither church nor cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "A[shwell Thorp w]as anciently called Thorp. only, and Ashewell was a hamlet in Thorp, but there being so many Thorps in the county about King Stephen's time [i.e., 1135-1154], it began, for distinction sake, to be called AshwellThorp; the name of Ashwell [...] does not once occur in Domesday Book, though it seems to have been a well inhabited place; for in 1131, Sir John de Thorp Knt. founded the free-chapel of St. Mary the Virgin at Ashwell, and built a house for the residence of a chaplain or chantry priest, to perform daily service in it to the inhabitants of the hamlet, and to pray for his own and wife's souls, and those of his ancestors and successours for ever. Having obtained a royal license of mortmain, he settled the house and five marks a year, for the chaplain's maintenance; but in 1315, thinking he had not fully endowed it, he confirmed to God, St. Mary, and all the Saints, the messuage and five marks annual rent, and another close of land, which he now added to the chantry aforesaid, with the consent of Sir Gregory de Thorp, Knt. his brother, the King, and Sir John de Clavering, Knt. his chief lord, confirming it; the revenues of this chapel were valued at 3l. and paid 6s. annual tenths; but at the dissolution of chantries in the time of Edw. VI. the whole was seized, and granted away by that King; and in 1598, Sir Thomas Knevet purchased the chapel-house, and all that belonged to the dissolved chapel of Ashwell: and ever since they have continued with the manor. 1315, Thomas de Cantiâ, or Kent, was presented to the chapel by the founder, all rights of the mother-church at Thorp being reserved". The Blomefield entry for 'Thorp' (ibid.) mentions the font at All Saints' church: "There is a handsome stone font, erected by Thomas Knevet, Esq. and Katherine Burgh his wife: it is an octogon, and hath eight shields: 1, Thorp. 2, Tilney impaling Thorp. 3, Bourchier impaling Tilney. 4, Knyvet impales Bourchier. 5, Knyvet impaling Harcourt, or, two bars G. 6, Knyvet impales Parry, alias Vaughan, sab. a chevron ar. between three boys head proper, intwined with snakes noued proper 7, Knyvet and Bacon, gul. on a chief arg. two mullets sab. 8, Knyvet and Burgh, az. five de-lises erm." Noted also in White's Directory of 1883: "The font is octagonal, with carved shields, and was given by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Knyvett". Cautley (1949) lists it as a font dated 1660 by an inscription. Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1997): "Octagonal, with shields on barbed quatrefoil fields. The carving is hard, the date surprising: 1660." The font however appears suspiciously fresh, no doubt re-tooled in Victorian times. Described and illustrated in Kontt (2008): "The font has been repainted with heraldic shields. Pevsner dates it from the Restoration in 1660, and so no doubt it replaced a medieval font destroyed by the puritans." It has foliage motifs on the underbowl chamfer; the base is a cluster of colonnettes with capitals and bases; the lower base octagonal and moulded. The wooden cover is octagonal, flat and plain; modern.