Burton Dassett / Dercetone

There is an entry for [Burton] Dassett [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SP3951/burton-dassett/] [accessed 7 January 2015], and it reports a pries, but not a church in it, though there probably was one there. The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 5, 1949) notes: "There was a priest, implying a church, at Dassett in 1086, [...] and the church was given to the priory of Arbury by Ralph de Sudeley when he founded that house early in the reign of Henry II [i.e., 1154+] [...] This is one of the finest churches in South Warwickshire. Its history begins with the early-to mid-12th century when it had only a chancel and short aisle-less nave. The two eastern angles remain in place, but the only architectural features that are preserved are the reset north and south doorways. [...] The font has a round bowl of hard grey stone with a moulded lower edge, probably of the 15th century: the top edge has been treated later with embattling, but a lead plug indicates where existed a staple for locking the medieval lid. The yellow stone cylindrical stem and base are modern." The basin is round, tapering slightly inwards, and has a moulded underbowl; the crenellation cut off its top is very crudely done; the cylindrical stem is of a different stone, date unknown; the lower base and two-step plinth are modern. There is a wooden cover on the font, round and flat, with metal decoration on the top; probably Victorian; but, as indicated in the VCH entry above, the lead plug in the upper rim indicated the presence of an earlier cover here.