Whissendine No. 1 / Wessinden / Wichingedene / Wicsinden / Wissenden / Wixenden

There are two entries for Whissendine [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SK8214/whissendine/] [accessed 20 July 2015, neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. A fragment of a stone font (?) is reported now [May 2009] in the churchyard (?) being used as a flower pot or planter; it appears to be the lower half of a square baptismal font, filled with soil and weeds; on the sides of the remaining fragment there are two quadrupeds that appear to be lined up in the tradional arrangement of lions facing each other at the corner on some Romanesque fonts; a third side is almost completely missing, except for the left side, at the corner, where it appears to show an angel; to the left of this figure (?) there could be one or two arches, but the stone is too eroded to discern the motifs with any degree of certainty; two of the sides of the font have been drilled with a hole at mid height, which would suggest a re-use of this object as a water trough in a farm, or similar use in a garden. There is no mention of this object in the Victoria County History entry for Whissendine (Rutland, vol. 2, 1935), but there is an indication of an early church here: "The church of Whissendine was given by Earl Simon de St. Liz III to St. Andrew's, Northampton, between 1174 and 1184", although, as the VCH adds, "No part of the present building is older than the 13th century. A church is known to have existed in the 12th century, and though evidence of its plan is wanting, it is not unlikely that it was an aisleless building with a tower between the nave and chancel and a transeptal chapel on the north side of the tower in the position of the present north transept." [NB: the present baptismal font at Whissendine St. Andrew's is of the 14th century -- cf. Index entry for Whissendine No. 2]