Middlewich / Mildestvich

Vaudrey (1875) cites parish records of expenses recorded for the year 1661, among which are: "Paid unto John Wood for making the leaden Pan for the Font Stone 8[s] 6[d] -- P[ai]d for oyle colours varnish & workmanship to color the font stone 7[s]" [which is of related interest as it indicates fonts were still being painted in the mid-17th century]. The Family History Society of Cheshire (Crewe Group) [http://www.scfhs.org.uk/scfhs/st_johns_byley_intro.html] [accessed 11 May 2010] writes: "The little parish church of St John the Evangelist […] was built due to the labours of Rev William Henry Massie, then Vicar of Goostrey, who died in 1856. The font inside the church is not the original. The original from St John's was moved into the churchyard at Byley to the south of the church. The existing font came from St Michael's Middlewich. It had been removed from inside St Michael's and was in the churchyard at Middlewich for over one hundred years before being moved to Byley."