Buttsbury / Botelnesbury / Bottesbury / Botulfespyrie / Botulnesbury / Botulnespyrie / Butterbury / Cinga / Ginge Laundri / Ginges Joiberd

Wright (1836) notes: "This church, dedicated to St. Mary, was anciently appropriated to the nunnery of St. Leonard, of Stratford, near Bow, now called St. Leonard Bromley, in Middlesex, but it is not known by whom the donation was made. King Henry the Third confirmed to the nuns of St. Leonard de Gynges, and the hermit of Gynges, all the grants made to them, &c." A pre-1906 photograph of the font in the context of the church interior at Buttsbury exists in the Godman Collection, Essex Record Office [ref. D/Y 33/1/52] [source: http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.asp?DocID=976174] [accessed 15 June 2010]. The present baptismal font consists of an octagonal basin with decorated panels on the sides, raised on a moulded octagonal base, and a quadrangular plinth. Octagonal wooden cover of pyramidal shape. Both, font and cover, appear 19th-century. [NB: the fabric of the church goes back to the 14th century, but we have no information on the medieval font]