Rusper

Harrison (1920) reports: "On S[outh] of tower is an old font within railed enclosure." The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 6, pt. 3, 1987) notes: "A parish of Rusper existed by the mid 13th century when there was a rector [...] Apart from the tower the building is of the mid 19th century [...] The tower apparently existed by c. 1400 [...] The nave and chancel of the medieval church included windows of the 13th and 14th centuries". There is no font mentioned in the VCH entry for this parish. A local history by Nick Flint in the parish web site [www.rusperchurch.co.uk/#/history/4520312835] [accessed 30 October 2012] notes an early religious gathering in Rusper: "Just over fifty years ago a fascinating document came into the hands of the then Rector. It was a medieval charter confirming the rights granted by local lord Reginald de Braose to a small group of Benedictine nuns who had been settled here since the 1100s [...] so it is likely there was a church building in existence far earlier." This history does not mention a font or stoup in the church either. The Sussex Parish Churches web site [www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/503/33] [accessed 30 October 2012] reports two items in this church: 1)a 19th-century baptismal font; and 2)a "Small square bowl with rounded tapering sides, of uncertain date and unearthed in the C20", in the south aisle. A composite object made up of several pieces that obiously are at odds with each other; only the crude plain hemispherical basin appears medieval, the rest of the pieces, with the exception perhaps of the top square rim, probably modern. Appears to serve now as holy-water-stoup.