Flitton / Flichtam / Flictham / Flitte / Flitton cum Silsoe / Flute

There is an entry for Flitton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TL0535/flitton/] [accessed 19 April 2024]; it mentions neither priest nor church in it. A letter to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of May 1821, vol. 129: 393), signed by J.D. Parry and dated 6 February, bears the heading 'An Account of Flitton Church, Bedfordshire' , and notes: "The Church, both internally and externally, is much out of repair. The Font is plain and octagonal, with rude carvings of flowers and armorial shields underneath". The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "Until the Dissolution in 1536 the church of Flitton belonged to the abbey of Elstow, [...] but the date of the gift and the name of the benefactor are not known. In the time of Pope Alexander III, 1159-81, the right of presentation already belonged to the abbey [...] the whole appears to be of one build, dating from the fifteenth century. If, as it seems, the south porch is contemporary with the rest of the church, the date of completion, as given by the heraldry on the porch, will fall between 1440 and 1489 [...] The first book of the registers begins in 1591." There is no mention of a font in the VCH entry for this church. A modern font is noted and illustrated in www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9F6 [accessed 11 May 2012]: "The octagonal font has a large basin standing on a narrow pillar. It has a wooden cover and a plaque which reads: 'This font was remodelled and provided with new base and drain 1966. Harry Anderson, Stonemason. R. Burman, Draughtsman. Mothers' Union paid the costs.'" On the present font is a decorated band around the chamfer of the underbowl with large floral and other motifs; is this all that remains from the earlier font here? [NB: it is not known whether the remodelling was done to the font [i.e., the basin] reported here in 1821, which, according to the description in Parry [cf. supra], could have been of 15th-century design -- we have no information on the font of the earlier, 12th-century church].