Bromsgrove / Boarsgrove / Bremesburh / Bremesgraf / Bremesgrave / Bremesgrove / Brumesgrave / Brymmesgrove

There is an entry for Bromsgrove [variant spelling] in the Domesday book [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO9570/bromsgrove/] [accessed 11 September 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Noake (1848) was not impressed by the "horrid barbarisms which [...] have been inflicted on this noble edifice by the hands of those to whose conservation it has been entrusted", part of which barbarisms appears to be their handling of the font: "The font, a paltry thing made by a stone mason of the town, about a century ago at the enormous expense of £1. 4s. to the parish-- is hid in a north corner of the church, to keep company and sympathise with some ancient monuments of the Shrewsbury family, which have also been pushed out of their original habitations in the chancel. I am glad, however, to state that a new font has been liberally presented by the Rev. John Day Collis ." Cotton (1881) reports the 2 January 1744 entry in the Parish account books for a new font, "made by Jonathan Pinfield, a mason of Bromsgrove, and cost the parish 26s!" The same source notes that in 1868 a seat for the churchwardens was added "by the font"; but by 1907, two other seats were added "in that part of the Church where the Font used to be". Cotton (ibid.) further notes: "The present font was presented to the church in 1847, by the Rev. John Day Collis, D.D., and bears this inscription — "EX DONO JOHANNIS DAY COLLIS, A.M., SCHOLAE REGIS EDVARDI. APUD BROMSGROVENSES MAGISTRY. MDCCCXLVII." — (The Gift of John Day Collis, M.A., Master of King Edward Vlth's School at Bromsgrove, 1847.) The carving was executed by Mr. Irving, of Leicester. The last christening at the old font took place August 29th, 1847, and the new one was brought into the church on September 22nd of the same year, the first christening taking place on the following Sunday, when the Rev. P. M. Stedman baptised " Emma, daughter of John and Ann Barley, Lickey End, nailer." Miller (1890) reports a modern font in this church. The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "The earliest church, of which there are remains in the south door and the eastern respond of the north arcade of the nave, was a late 12th-century cruciform aisleless building [...] The font and fittings of the church are modern." Brooks & Pevsner (2007) mention only the 1847 font. [NB: we have no information on the whereabouts of the 1744 font, or of the font of the original late-Norman church]