Elsted / Halestede

There is an entry for Elsted [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SU8119/elsted/] [accessed 18 February 2024]; it mentions a church in it. Harrison (1920) reports a Norman chancel arch and north arcade, but does not mention a font in this church. The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 4, 1953) notes: "The church mentioned in Domesday Book [...] seems to have consisted of a single chamber, to which were added, soon after, a chancel and a north aisle; [...] In 1872 the church was 'in a dilapidated condition', [...] but it was restored in 1873 [...] The font and other fittings are modern [NB: the church interior plan in the VCH entry shows a font at the southwest corner of the chancel, presumably the modern one noted above] [...] The church, now disused and in ruins except for the chancel, is north of the village near the Manor Farm, and the parishioners attend services at Treyford." [NB: this entry in the VCH was published in 1953 but probably written earlier and missed the restoration of the church in 1951 -- cf. infra]. Noted in Fleming (1957) as a font given by Chichester St. Olave's in 1956. Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "small church, restored in 1951 [...] Situated at W end of nave. This limestone and Sussex marble font appears to be Victorian. It comprises a square limestone bowl with arcaded sides, and is supported by a thick central limestone shaft and four slender Sussex marble angle shafts, without capitals or bases. The interior is not lead lined. The chamfered square plinth appears to be much older than the rest of the ensemble. It probably represents the remains of a Romanesque font, upon which the Victorian font was based. [...] The font, of which only a fragment survives, would have dated from the late 12th or early 13thc." The Sussex Parish Churches web site [www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/415/33/] [accessed 31 July 2012] notes: "In 1956 after closure, most fittings were removed when it was adapted by H Sherwood (CCC file) as a Christian bookshop, as it remains (the font is now at Elsted)." [cf. Index entry for Chichester No. 7 for details of this font and its history]. The United Benefice of Harting with Elsted and Treyford cum Didling web site [www.harting.org.uk/feature.aspx?ID=1] [accessed 31 July 2012] notes: "the little thirty-by-fifteen foot nave was in Pre-Conquest times the whole church, already there in the reign of Edward the Confessor and mentioned as of "Halestede" in the Doomsday Book. [NB: we have no information on the original font of the pre-Conquest church at Elsted].