Melling / Melinge / Melling in Halsall / Mellyngg / Mellyngge

There is an entry for this Melling [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SD3900/melling/] [accessed 25 June 2014], but it mentions neither church nor cleric in it. Ellis (1902) notes: "It is very difficult to assign a date to the font in use Melling church, though, from its size and general character, it is probably pre-Reformation. It stands at the s[outh] w[est] corner of the nave, and consists of an octagonal bowl with plain faces, surmounted by a roll moulding, and diminishing below by a series of four similar mouldings. The stem is a portion only of the original one, a plain octagon, and it stands on the floor without any base. The font is of light-coloured sandstone, but has been covered with a thin coat of paint [...] the tool marks are plainly visible." The Victoria County History (Lancaster, vol. 3, 1907) notes: "The chapel is mentioned in a charter dated about 1210 [...] had always been considered as dependent on Halsall, though the curate, appointed by the rector, was called the 'curate or parish priest of Melling.' [...] later, about 1610, there was neither service nor preacher. [...] As the registers begin in 1613 it is probable that this neglect was noticed by the bishop, who insisted upon some improvement. [...] in 1650, [...] the Commonwealth Surveyors recommended that the chapelry be made a parish of itself." The VCH does not mention a font in the chapel but a footnote reads: "For the font see Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xvii, 64." [cf. supra]