Basingstoke No. 2 / Basingestoches / Basingestok / Embasinga stocæ

There are two entries for Basingstoke [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU6351/basingstoke/] [accessed 7 August 2018], one of which reports "1 priest [...] 1 church. 1.0 church lands" in it. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The arches opening north and west from the south chapel look like 14th-century work, and the responds of the former arch, though now showing 15th-century detail in capitals and bases, may be as early. In an account roll of Selborne Priory for 1464–5 is an entry of £22 10s. for the new building of the chancel of Basingstoke Church [...] All the furniture of the church is of modern date; the font, which stands under the tower, is elaborately carved and has a tall traceried oak canopy over it." The present baptismal font at St. Michael's is of the single-volume design, the octagonal basin demarcated by two protruding mouldings that frame sides decorated with pairs of quatrefoils with floral motifs inscribed in them; on thes sides of the four cardinal points are the four symbols of the Evangelists; the underbowl has large floral motifs on the sides; the base has cinquefoil tracery on the sides and buttresses at the angles. The font is raised on a two-step plinth. The tall octagonal wooden cover has two sections: the lower half is open-work; the upper half is an octagonal pyramid with crocketed arrises; it is operated by a counterweight system. Both font and cover appear to be of the 19th century and may date from the 1840s major renovation of the building [NB: an earlier church is believed to have existed on this site, but we have no information on the earlier fonts].