Pyrford / Peliforde / Pirford / Piriford / Purford

There is an entry for Pyrford [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ0458/pyrford/] [accessed 12 December 2015] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The entry for Pirford [Pyrford] in the church inventory (1869) done in Edward VI's reign [1547-1553], does not mention a font in this church, or in any other, for that matter, but itemises "ij cloothes to kever the font". The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: "The church of ST. NICHOLAS remains very much as it was erected in about 1140–50, both as to general form and its principal features; and the exceptionally sympathetic restoration which it underwent in 1869 at the hands of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., has enhanced its archaeological interest, by bringing to light paintings and other things. [...] The font is modern, and there are no monuments of any importance or antiquity." The present font is moden, as reported in the VCH [cf. supra]; it consists of a square basin with tapering sides decorated with pairs of shallow pointed arches, raised on a broad central shaft and four slender colonnettes with moulded bases at the angles, on a square lower base. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat, also modern. The ruins of Newark Priory still stand nearby but we do not have information on its church and possible font.