Andover / Andefera / Andeura / Andewra / Andever / Andevre / Andovere

There is an entry for Andover [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU3645/andover/] [accesed 28 August 2018], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. White (1878) notes the recent building of Andover's new church and adds: "The ancient church which stood on the same site was a large and interesting fabric of Saxon and Norman architecture with a low tower in tho centre the spire of which fell down in the last century and a large semicircular doorway with zigzag mouldings It was in existence in the time of William the Conqueror who gave it to the Abbey of St Florence Salmur in Anjou". There is no mention of a font in the entry for Andover in White but, in the entry for nearby Appleshaw, "a parish and pleasant village, 5 miles W.N.W. of Andover", White describes the church, re-built in 1830-1831, and a font in it: "The font which was formerly in Andover church, was presented by the present vicar". The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The church of Andover, which is not mentioned in Domesday, was granted to the alien priory of Andover [...] by William I and remained in its gift, under the abbey of St. Florent, Saumur, until 1414 [...] The [present] church of St. Mary the Virgin was built between 1840 and 1844 in place of an old church of which nothing now remains except a round-headed doorway in the tower with shafted jambs and zigzag in the arch, of late 12th-century date but much repaired." No font mentioned in the VCH entry. A listing of the Church of St. Peter in The Wood, Appleshaw, done on 20 December 1960 by English Heritage [Listing NGR: SP2947346468] reports two baptismal fonts in that church: "There is a Victorian octagonal font, but in the porch what appears to be the original font, comprising a very slender circular stone pillar, on a square base, with a vase top, now accommodating a shallow metal dish." [NB: we have no information on which of these two fonts is the one from Andover, if either]. [NB: there was a priory in Andover and it must have had a church; perhaps that church became later the chapel-of-ease at Foxcott; it is not clear whether there was a font in it or not, none documented in any case].