Chilton Candover / Candeure / Candevre / Candovere / Chilternecandevre / Chilton / Chylton Candevour

There is an entry for [Chilton] Candover [variant sperlling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU5940/chilton-candover/] [accessed 9 August 2018] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The first mention of the church of Chilton Candover is in 1291 [...] The lords of the manor presented the rectors until 1847, [...] when the living was annexed to that of Brown Candover.' [...] The first register book begins in 1695, and the entries for baptisms, marriages, and burials [...] finish in 1752." The Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's Conservation Area Appraisal of April 2004 [www.basingstoke.gov.uk] notes: "At Chilton Candover, the shrunken village was built around the former St Nicholas Church, sited on the south-east facing side of the valley. [...] The remains of St Nicholas Church (Grade II) are set on the northern hillside within the earthworks. The structure dates from around 1100 but the church, above ground, was largely demolished in 1876. The remains of this church (only the flint boundary wall is now visible from a distance) are the only surviving remnants of this medieval deserted village." The Candovers Parish Council web site [www.candovers-pc.gov.uk/villageamenities/churches.asp] notes: "Originally a Norman church, during the 12C a simple but larger church was built on top of it and what was left of the original church became a burial chamber. [...] This crypt chapel is all that remains of an ancient church built probably about 1100 [...] this old Norman building is still intact. A later church was built on the same site, possibly in the 14th century. This church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, fell into disuse in 1845 and was finally demolished in 1875. [...] The font, probably 12th Century, was found amongst the debris at the entrance." The font is now [June 2011] positioned inside the crypt, not likely to be its original location; it is of the square table-top type, consisting of a square basin with a round inner basin of hemispherical shape on the inside, with a central drain; the spandrels of the upper rim surface appear to be decorated, as do the sides of the basin [no clear enough source available at this point]; raised on a broad and plain cylindrical pedestal base.