Sisland / Sislanda / Sizeland / Syseland

There are two entries for Sisland [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM3498/sisland/] [accessed 5 March 2014], one of which mentions half a church and church lands in it. The earliest reference to this church or its advowson in Blomefield (1805-1810) appears to be: "In the reign of Edward I. Edmund de Hoo was patron of the church, which was a rectory, valued at 7 marks. The rector had a manse and 30 acres". The present font is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Font. Octagonal, C15. Against the stem four lions, against the bowl two lions, four demi-figures of angels, and two flowers.- Font cover. Simple, C17." Noted and illustrated in Knott (2005) as a survivor of an earlier church on this site: "This church is built on the site of its medieval predecessor, which was destroyed by lightning on Sunday 12th July 1761 at three o'clock in the afternoon, during 'divine service', that is to say one of those interminable sermons so beloved of 18th century Rectors. The church appears to have been rebuilt almost immediately, the 1761 accounts detailing the purchase of 4000 bricks and 1100 tiles. The former north wall was reused, the south side being rebuilt, and the remains of the north transept chapel left as a buttress. The exterior is a sweet example of that century's Gothick […] one single survival from the earlier building in the form of the 15th century font in the East Anglian style". [NB: the angels of the basin sides are rather crude and appear to hold their hands together in prayer; the lions on the two sides are not the best either; is this an original font? was it recarved?] [NB: we have no information on the font from the Domesday-time church here].