Horningtoft / Horninegetoft / Horninghetoft

There is an entry for Horningtoft [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF9323/horningtoft/] [accessed 10 February 2014], but it mentions neither church nor cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is a rectory, dedicated to St. Edmund the King and Martyr [...] The church and chancel are covered with lead, and has a square tower with four bells. [NB: Blomefield did his fieldwork in the 1850s and 1860s; the tower collapsed in 1876]. [...] On the font are the arms of Castell, argent, three castles, triple towered, gules, also a fess between two chevrons." Although "Richard de Hedersete" is named first recorded rector in 1302, Blomefield (ibid.) writes: "In the 18th of Edward I. Sir Thomas de Burt granted this lordship by fine to Nicholas de Castello [...] and Cecilia his wife, with the advowson of the church", setting thus an earlier date for the church, 1290, though necessarily the original. The present font is noted in Chambers (1829): "On the church font is the arms of Castell." Farrer (1887 [1885?]) writes on the coats of arms on this font: "Four carved Shields on the Font. II. Castell. -- III. Castell. -- IV. Castell. -- V. A fesse between two chevrons, the one in chief, engrailed ; impaling Castell. I have been unable to identify this marriage, though I have searched all the pedigrees of the Castells, together with those of Baynard, Fitzwalter, and many other families bearing a similar coat to that on the dexter side of the shield." The Horningtoft web site [http://horningtoft.org.uk/churchhist.html] [accessed 6 August 2009] notes the font: "The 14th century font is octagonal, having carved Shields with Castles triple towered." In Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "C15. Of Suffolk type. i.e. octagonal and with four lions against the stem and four angels with shields and four lions against the bowl."