West Lydford / Lideford / Lydford-on-Fosse

There is an entry for [West] Lydford [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST5631/west-lydford/] [accessed 5 February 2018], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Kelly's Directory of 1883 notes the Church of St. Mary, "rebuilt in 1846" and remarks that "the font has been removed". The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Somerset, vol. 10, 2010) entry for this parish notes: "The church was in existence by the mid 12th century [...] the church was dedicated to St Mary and All Saints in 1482, although now known as St Peter [...] The [present] church of St Peter lies immediately north of the river Brue in an area prone to flooding, within a roughly rectangular east-west churchyard, It replaced the medieval church, which was demolished in 1844. That church may have been the result of a major rebuilding programme c. 1333 [...] further alteration after 1333. The Perpendicular windows to nave and the belfry openings appear 15th-century rather than 14th, possibly altered when the north aisle and perhaps a south porch were added. The north arcade piers may have been reused in the rebuilt church, as was the 15th-century font [...] In July 1844 the church was demolished, apart from the tower, which was restored with additional pinnacles. A new church with chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch, and west tower was built on the same site and to almost the same plan of blue lias with Doulting dressings to designs in Somerset Perpendicular style by Benjamin Ferrey." An edition of Harvey Pridham’s Survey of Somerset Church Fonts was published in 2013 by The Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (SANHS), which claims to have a drawing of the West Lydford in it [http://www.sanhs.org/Documents/Fonts.pdf] [accessed 5 February 2017] [BSI does not have access to it yet]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST5647531881] notes: "Anglican Parish Church. 1846 by B. Ferrey on an earlier site. [...] Archaeologically correct Perpendicular. [...] Plain C15 octagonal font, a niche to each face of its base."