Ashby nr. Oby and Thurne / Aschebe / Askebi / Ascheby / Askeby / Asseby

There are three entries for this Ashby [variant apelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG4115/ashby/] [accessed 22 May 2014], but neither mentions a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "Jeff. de Askeby and Maud his wife, had an interest here, and in the patronage, in the beginning of the reign of Richard I [i.e., ca.1189] and in the 8th of that King [i.e., 1197], William, son of Alexander de Sparham, and Roger de Suffield, conveyed by fine to Ralph abbot of Holm, a moiety of the advowson, and he granted to them the advowson of the church of Repps; William, gave also to the abbot, lands in Owley. [...] The church was a rectory dedicated to St. Mary [...] On the font is an escotcheon and orle of martlets [...] Many years past there were no houses standing; but that of the manor, the inhabitants of Oby come to this church." [NB: François Velde (2000) [www.heraldica.org/topics/martlet.htm] [accessed 22 May 2014] writes on the martlet: "According to Pastoureau: Traité d'Héraldique (2d ed., p. 150-1), the charge makes its first appearance c. 1185 in the arms of Mello in Normandy, and is at first confined to similarly canting arms (Merlot, Merloz, etc). [...] Most likely, the need to save space led artists to skip the feet of the small birds that were often used as filler or bordure elements (the orle of martlets is common in early heraldry)." -- was the font bearing the "escotcheon and orle of martlets" the original one here? was it late-12thC?]. Chambers (1829) cross-references the church of St. Mary, Asby to Oby, and adds: "The inhabitants of this place and Oby go to Thirne church. In 1604, the churches of Ashby and Oby were consolidated with Thirne." White's Gazetteer of 1836 (312) notes: "Ashby is now only one farm, 1 mile S.E. of Thurne, though it had formerly a church dedicated to St. Mary, of which some ruins still remain. White's Gazetteer of 1854 (458-459) notes; "Ashby had formerly a Church dedicated to St. Mary, of which some remains are still to be seen, about a mile S.E. of Thurne". L'Estrange (1874) writes: "ASHBY cum OBY, Blessed Virgin Mary. In ruins. In 1704 it was stated to be very ruinous". [cf. Index entry for Oby for a possible church there].