Hursley / Hursele / Hurseleghe

No entry for Hursley found in the Domesday survey. Yonge (1898) notes that the present font was a gift of "the Rev. William Butler and Emma his wife, and the clergy and sisters of Wantage". Yonge (ibid.) reports that a long inscription [text provided in Yonge] recording the gift in Latin was proposed to be carved "on the base of the font, to be entirely hidden", but it is not known whether or not it was actually executed. Yonge also reports that a stranger visited the church, took measurements of both font and height of the ceiling above, "and in due time, in 1850, there arrived the beautiful carved canopy, the donor never being known". The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 3, 1908) notes: "The grant of the appropriation of the church, which had been made without the licence of Edward I, was confirmed to Richard de Bourne, the provost, and the chaplains and clerks by Edward II in 1307. [...] The church of All Saints [...] all except the tower being modern, and rebuilt by John Keble during his long incumbency, 1836–66." The British Listed Buildings database [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-145803-church-of-all-saints-hursley] [accessed 30 August 2011] reports: "Carved timberfont on stone base with tall carved cover"