Shipton Bellinger / Sceptone / Sceptune / Schypton / Septon / Shipeton / Shipton Bellyngar / Shupton Berenger

There are two entries for Shipton [Bellinger] [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU2345/shipton-bellinger/] [29 November 2017], one of which reports a church in it. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The church of Shipton Bellinger was held in 1086 by the lord of the manor, [...] but early in the 13th century it was granted to the priory of Newark [...] Very little can be said of the age of the building, as every part except a little of the north wall of the nave has been refaced or rebuilt. [...] No details earlier than c. 1325 are to be seen. [...] The fittings are entirely modern." There is no mention of font in the VCH entry. The present font appears Victorian, a sorry 19th-century version of an earlier medieval design. [NB: we have no information on the medieval font of the original church]. Interestingly an article published 8 April 2015 in The Telegraph [www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11522698/Church-rector-in-unholy-battle-over-showy-Victorian-font.html] [accessed 29 November 2017] informas that "Now though the Rector and church wardens, backed by the Parochial Church Council and the Diocesan Advistory Committee, want the font - once branded in a book on English buildings as "Outsize, showy High Victorian" - taken out and replaced with a smaller more compact one [...] They have suggested that when removed it could be either sold or given to another church or chapel or, failing that buried in the church yard [...] The call for its removal has already been won the backing of Christopher Clark, Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester and a judge of the Church's ancient Consistory Court which has to approve major changes to churches. He approved it despite objections from the Victorian Society and local parishioner, Susan Tomer. But now the Victorian Society have indicated that they intend to appeal against Chancellor Clark's ruling."