Denver / Danefala / Danefella

There is no mention of a church or cleric in the Domesday entry for "Danefella". Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and consisted of two medieties, or rectories, one called St. Michael's, or West-Hall mediety, the other St. Peter's or East-Hall mediety. It is a single pile, built of rag-stone out of neighbouring pits, and camerated with pannels of wood, covered with reed; at the west end is a four-square tower, and on that an octangular spire of wood, covered with lead, with 5 bells." Blomefield (ibid.) gives the lists of recorded rectors for each mediety; "1316, Robert de Stradesete instituted, presented by Peter de Spalding" for the mediety of St. Michael, and "1312, Simon de Cayly instituted, presented by William de Wasteny" for the medity of St. Peter, although patronage of the church here is documented in the reign of Edward I [i.e., 1272-1307]. The Parish web site [www.st-mary-denver.co.uk/ChurchHistory/cms/churchhistory.html] [accessed 14 August 2013] notes: "The carved stone Font was placed in the Church in 1870 replacing an earlier one.", but does not mention the whereabouts of the earlier one. The present baptismal font is illustrated in Knott (2005) and described as typical of the "mass-produced ecclesiological items turned out by the factories and workshops of Birmingham and London in the second half of the 19th century". It consists of a polygonal basin with paenls on the sides containing quatrefoils, etc., all brightly painted and gilded; raised on a base of clustered columns with moulded capitals and bases, and a plain octagonal pedestal with kneeling stone. It probably dates from the 1868-1877 renovation of the church [NB: we have no information on the font of the 13th-century church here].