Tilney All Saints No. 1 / Tilingetuna / Tilinghetuna

There are two entries for Tilney in the Domesday survey under the variant spellings of "Tilingetuna" and "Tilinghetuna", transcribed and translated in Blomefield (1805-1810), neither of which mentions church or cleric in it. Blomefield (ibid.) describes the church here: "The Church of Tilney is dedicated to all the Saints, and is a large building, consisting of a nave, north and south isle, with a chancel covered with lead; at the west end stands a square tower, with pinnacles, and - - bells therein; on the tower, a spire of free-stone", and mentions the font in passing: "Robert Howsson, vicar, wills to be buried in the place, where the font formerly stood, in the church of All-Saints, Tilney", indicating a move of the font elsewhere in the church. This Robert Howsson appears in the list of vicars: Robert Housson, or Howysson, occurs vicar 1442, and 1430", list that starts with the first one recorded in 1372, the vicarage having been settled in 1359 when "Edward III. in his 32d year, granted a patent to appropriate it to Pembroke-Hall, in Cambridge," Previously it had been a rectorate, the first recorded rector being "Godfrey de Acre occurs rector in the 22d of Edward I" [i.e., 1294], this being the earliest date recorded in relation to the church at Tilney. Pevsner & Wilson (1999) write of two fonts in this church: "One with an octagonal Perp[endicular] bowl." Illustrated in Knott (2005). The old basin appears to have been cut and put to other uses for a long time before being restored to the church. It is now [2005] mounted on unrelated blocks and kept inside the church as part of a collection of old stones from the church.