Chetwode / Ceteode / Cetwuda / Chetwood / Chitwood

There is an entry for Chetwode [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP6429/chetwode/] [accessed 14 January 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Sheahan (1862) reports a modern font in this church. The Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 4, 1927) notes: "The church of Chetwode is mentioned in 1223 [...] The dedication to St. Martin is mentioned in an institution of 1234–5 [...] It remained appurtenant to the manor [...] until the end of the 14th century. The Prior and convent of Chetwode obtained licence in 1349 to acquire the church in mortmain [...] In 1480, owing to the state of decay into which St. Martin's Church had fallen, an agreement was made between the Abbot of Nutley and the parishioners by which the priory church was finally given to the inhabitants of Chetwode for parochial use, save fourteen times a year, when service was to be held in the old parish church [...] Since that time the priory church has been regarded as the parish church [...] By the agreement of 1480 [cf. supra] the bishop decreed that the old church of St. Martin was to be regarded as a chapel depending on the sometime conventual, now parochial, church as long as the said chapel should be kept in repair by the parishioners. The Abbot of Nutley, however, was at liberty to remove to the parish church, for which he was responsible, the font of St. Martin's, with timber, lead, &c., for repairs". The present font is located at the west end of the nave.