Betchworth / Beceswrde / Becesuuorde / Becesworde / Bechesworth / East Betchworth

There are two entries for Betchworth [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ2149/betchworth/] [accessed 14 December 2015], one of which mentions a church in it. Brayley (1850) remarks: "An old font, merely a basin in a mahogany case, was removed in the summer of 1844; and one of stone, octagonal, with pointed arches, and its three easternmost faces sculptured with different devices, was substituted: it rests on a large circular pillar, and four smaller columns, rising from a square base." The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: "From the fact that a church is mentioned in Domesday and that a capital or base of a pre-Conquest shaft is to be seen built into a modern window, [...] it is practically certain that there was a Saxon church, and that of stone." The Parish website [www.stmichaelsbetchworth.net/resources_history.php] [accessed 12 August 2010] notes: "The font is the work of the distinguished sculptor Eric Kennington and was dedicated in 1951. It was given by Mrs. Cunning of Broome Park in memory of her husband, Dr. Joseph Cunning and their only son, Pilot Officer James Erskine Cunning, who was killed in action in 1941." [NB: this modern font has trefoiled niches with Christ, the Madonna and Child, St. George and the dragon, and aviator in uniform, as well as an inscription, wings, etc., on the sides; the font is in the bucket-shaped tub traditional Norman design, but the decoration is modern; the wooden cover is a low dome, also modern].