Oxnead / Oxenedes / Oxned / Oxnede / Oxnet

Blomefield (1805-1910) writes of Oxnead: "In the Confessor's reign it was the lordship of Guert, a thane of Saxon or Danish extraction, and Aildeig a freeman held it under him; but at the grand survey [i.e., Domesday, 1086] Halden was the lord, when there was a church belonging to it, endowed with a large glebe in that age, 24 acres [...] The Church of Oxnead is dedicated to St. Michael, consisting of a nave, and a chancel, both covered with tiles, and a square tower, in which is one bell." Blomefield (ibid.) names "Nicholas de Castello, or Castle" as first recorded rector here, in 1307. The present font is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1997) as a baptismal font of the 17th century. Illustrated in Knott (2005). The font conists of a plain octagonal basin with a rounded underbowl, raised on an octagonal pedestal base with mouldings at top and bottom, large lozenge motifs in between, plain splaying lower base; The wooden cover, with a moulded base and raised scroll ribs, could be contemporary with the font itself. [NB: we have no information on the font from the original church here].