Hope Bowdler / Fordritishope / Hope Boulers / Hope Bulers

There is an entry for Hope [Bowdler] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SO4792/hope-bowdler/] [accessed 24 June 2015], but it reports neither cleric nor church in it. Anderson (1864) notes "Nicholas, parson of Hope Bulers", an early incumbent in 1248, and records of baptisms begin in 1564. No font mentioned in the English Heritage entry [Listing NGR: SO4758592409] (1974). The Victoria County History (Shropshire, vol. 10, 1998) notes: "A church was probably built in the 12th century […] The old church of St. Andrew, so dedicated by c. 1740 […] In 1862-3 a new church, of Soudley stone with Grinshill stone dressings, was built to a design by S. Pountney Smith […] Only the pulpit, of 1639 but probably rebuilt, survives from the old furnishings." The Hope Bowdler Parish website [www.hopebowdler.org.uk/content/view/4/27/] [accessed 31 March 2010], however, reports: "The original ancient font was replaced on a new plinth" in the 1860s re-building of this church. No font mentioned in Newman & Pevsner (2006). The font as it stands now [2015] consists of a round tapering basin totally plain and apparently re-tooled; the lower area and the underbowl show and indentation and a set of spur-like motifs that appear modern, as do the pedestal base and the rectangular plinth. The wooden cover, round, flat, with decoration and ring handle appears modern as well. [NB: the original basin may have been totally plain].