Morley St. Botolph / Morlea

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes; "The church of St. Butolph is the mother church, St. Peter's being only a chapel of ease, belonging to it, and had no separate rector, but was served by a curate, nominated by the rector [...] The Church of St. Butolph hath a nave, chancel, and south porch, which are tiled, a large square tower and three bells". Blomefield (ibid.) names "John, son of Elen de Thomston," as the first recorded rector here, in 1244, and cites two Domesday entries for 'Morlea', one of which reads: "In Morlea, ii. car. terre. unam tenuit i. presbyter, et aliam v. liberi homines. et presbyter habebat xix. bord." but it is not clear whether this church had existed at the time of Edward the Confessor's previous survey. Pevsner & Wilson (1999) describe a font at St. Botolph's: "Octagonal, with tracery on the stem and close panel tracery on the bowl. Top battlemented." The Church of England's 'A church neat you' site [www.achurchnearyou.com/morley-st-botolph/] [accessed 11 August 2009], however, informs that "The font was also renewed but the font cover (wooden) was saved" in the 1959 fire that destroyed the nave. The new font is octagonal and chiefly plain. The cover, if it is the old one, consists of a flat octagonal platform with four pinnacled and crocketed vertical ribs on it, and a cross finial; probably Victorian.