Alton / Aoltone / Aultone [Domesday] / Aulton / Vindomis?

There is an entry for this Alton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/] [accessed 17 September 2016], but it mentions neither cleric not church in it. White (1878) reports a modern font: "the octagonal Caen stone font was carved and presented by the late Vicar, the Rev. O.A. Hodgson". The old font had been discarded and ended up in Cirencester [cf. infra]. Plain bucket-shaped basin from the old church; noted in Couper (1970). "The font is fashioned from one massive block of stone and crude axemarks may be seen on it, showing its primitive workmanship. When the church was restored in 1868 the font was discarded in favour of one of a more contemporary design; it ended up in Cirencester, but was purchased for £10 in 1934 and brought back to St Lawrence's, where it stands at the west end of the south nave on a mill wheel, symbolising Alton's status as a centre of the paper industry. It has been in use as a font since 1950." [source: http://reference.canadaspace.com/search/Church%20of%20St%20Lawrence,%20Alton] [accessed 9 August 2010]. The old font is locally believed by some to be Anglo-Saxon, as is the original church. The 19th-century font is an interesting example of the survival of the 'Instruments of the Passion' symbol on shields, a choice of decoration quite popular during the Perpendicular period. It reappears on the sides of this octagonal font, the shields inscribed in cusped panels with additional rosettes at the inner tips of the dodecafoiled shapes; raised on a broad octagonal pedestal base decorated with fleur-de-lis pattern; moulded octagonal lower base. Its wooden cover is octagonal and flat, with some metal decoration and ring handle; modern.