Marlow / Berlaue / Great Marlow / Chepping Marlow / Chipping Marlow / Merelafan / Merlaue / Merlawe

There are four entries for [Great] Marlow and [Little] Malow [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/marlow-and-little-marlow/] [accessed 16 October 2015], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. Magna Britannia (1806) reported "A neat baptistry was fitted up, and a new marble font given by the late vicar, Dr. Cleobury" in this church [NB: it does not mention the whereabouts of the earlier font]. Sheahan (1862) notes that the "church was rebuilt in 1834, on the site of the old church", and reports a small marble font in it. The Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 3, 1925) notes: "Marlow Church was appurtenant to the manor and was bestowed by Robert Fitz Hamon on Tewkesbury Abbey, [...] Henry I confirming the gift after the death of Robert in 1107. [...] It [the modern church] was built in 1832 in place of an earlier church, of which the tower and spire fell on 21 December 1831", but does not mention a font in either of them. The All Saints Marlow site [www.allsaintsmarlow.org/history.asp] notes: "The Parish Church, dedicated to All Saints, was built on the site of an earlier one which was demolished in 1832. The date of erection of the old Church is obscure, but records show that a Church existed here at least as early as 1070 A.D. when Saint Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, visited the town." [NB: the present font is modern, probably of the 1832 re-building, the one noted in Magna Britannia and Sheahan above]. Sheahan (1862) notes the Church of the Holy Trinity, also in Marlow, as having been consecrated in 1852 and having an elegant Caen-stone font topped by a carved oak canopy. Holy Trinity's, adds Sheahan (ibid.), "is at present merely a Chapel of Ease to the parish church." Another modern font is noted by Sheahan (ibid.) in the Catholic Church of St. Peter, also of Caen stone and dating from ca. 1846.