Ockley / Aclea / Hocklegh / Occle / Ockel / Oclei / Okeleigh / Okeley / Okkeleghe

There is an entry for Ockley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1439/ockley/] [accessed 14 December 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Bax (1890) notes the first entry recorded in the Parish's original register book: "The first entry of baptism is -- Thomas Hitchcocke baptized January the 2nd day, 1538-9". The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: " The first reference to the church of Ockley is in the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas, 1291. [...] There is no trace in the walls of work earlier than the beginning of the 14th century, to which date the nave and chancel both originally belonged. [...] The massive western tower [...] is rude Gothic of 1700"; no font mentioned in the VCH entry. The present baptismal font in this church probably dates from the 1870s renovation; it is octagonal all over and decorated with mouldings. The church has a second basin, octagonal as well, and probably of the same period; it stands on a very short base, obviously missing its stem; the basin has a chamfered upper rim carved with a band of rosettes; the sides have deeply carved trefoils some of which have emblems inside; each side is scalloped at the bottom, uder the trefoils; the underbowl and the spandrels are decorated with artichoke-like flowers; the wooden cover is flat and round, also modern. [NB: the church is said to date to ca. 1291, but we have no information on its medieval font].