Wembdon / Wasmendune

There is an entry for Wembdon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST2837/wembdon/] [accessed 11 April 2018], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The entry for the parish of Wembdon in the Victoria County History (Somerset, vol. 6, 1992) notes: "There was a church at Wembdon by the late 12th century, when both a rector and a chaplain were mentioned [...] Until it was substantially rebuilt after fire destroyed the nave roof in 1868, the church of ST. GEORGE, so called in 1285, [...] comprised a chancel with north vestry, a four-bayed nave with north and south aisles, and a west tower. The chancel was rebuilt and the north aisle added in the 13th century, the south aisle, porch, nave roof, and tower in the 14th century, probably after the building had been described as a ruin. [...] Windows were replaced at the same time in the earlier rear arches in the chancel. The font, a stair tower, rood loft, and screen were added in the later 15th century". The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST2893337958] reports a "Restored C15 octagonal font" in it. Miles Kerr-Peterson, Bridgwater Heritage Group [www.bridgwaterheritage.org.uk/churches/wembdon/wembdonchurchhist.html] [accessed 11 April 2018] writes of an interesting discovery made during the demolition of the Almshouse Cottages adjacent to the church here in 1885: "a carved saxon font or piscina, assumed to be c.950AD, was discovered among the rubble" [NB: e-mailed the BHG with request for more inof on this item 11 April 2018 -- MK-P replied with a photograph of an object now built into the wall of the vestry and three pages of the local guide in which it is referred as "A very olf font from the church" and the Saxon dating noted above, but it wisely qualifies: "However, dating these objects is notoriously unreliable and it is more likely to be Norman and dating between 1066 and 1100".] The object in the church vestry is a crude stone basin half-built into a recess of the vestry wall, with only about 1/4 of it visible now; it appears to be roughly of hemispherical shape and has a wide protruding upper rim; the inner basin is very shallow and has a drain that shows off-centre now. If the depth of the inner basin is original, and it was a liturgical furnishing, it would have to be a lavabo or piscina for the use of the officiating priest. With regards its age, it is crude amd crudely rendered, without specific details to which attach a date; it does not show any indication that would preclude datin it to the original church here, documented in the late 12th century.