Ashwicken / Ashwyken / Wica / Wiche / Wyken

There is no reference to church or cleric in the Domesday enntries for "Wiche" or "Wica". Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church of Ashwyken is dedicated to All-Saints, and was appropriated to Westacre priory", and gives "John de Wreningham, presented to Ashwyken vicarage, by the prior of Westacre" as first recorded Vicar here, in 1316. Noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "c. 1850 in Dec[orated] style." Described and illustrated in Knott (2006]: "an extraordinary wedding cake of a font, dripping in pendant tracery and carved from a sparkly marble […] Cautley, in a rare moment of distraction, wondered if it might really be 14th century. In fact, it was carved in Benares, in India, in the 1870s, specifically for this church, and given as a memorial to a dead child." The wooden cover is octagonal and modern, with a knob and cross finial. [NB: the fabric of the church goes back to at least the 14th century, but we have no information on the earlier font of this church]