Topcliffe / Topeclive / Toppecliva

There is a multiple-place entry for Topcliffe [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE4076/topcliffe/] [accessed 6 December 2019]; it reports two priests, a church and "1.0 church lands" in it. There is 1773 ink-wash-on-paper drawing of this font by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15548 - Item number: f.89]; the drawing shows a font and its cover; the font consists of an octagonal basin with plain vertical sides and a plain chamfered underbowl, raised on a plain octagonal pedestal base and a moulded lower base, also octagonal; the inner well of the basin is round. The cover is of octagonal pyramidal shape, the lower end with a crenellated crown-like base; arrises to the top and a ball or knob finial. Both of these items may have been destroyed (?) in the mid-19th century re-building of this church [cf. infra]. The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (York North Riding, vol. 2, 1923) notes: "A church existed in Topcliffe at the time of the Domesday Survey, and it was granted by the second William de Percy to the use of the fabric of the cathedral of York. [...] There is no evidence of any building on this site earlier than the 14th century [...] In the porch are some old stones, among them the head of an ancient cross and a fragment which might be either part of a font or a mortar." The VCH (ibid.) remarks that the church was re-built in 1855; it further adds that the churches of the nearby hamlets of Baldersby, Dishforth, Marton-le-Moor and Dalton are all modern buildings. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SE3996576037] notes; "Church. C13 and C14, partly rebuilt in 1855"; no font mentioned in it.