Walton-on-the-Hill nr. Liverpool / Walitone / Walton nr. Liverpool

There is an entry for this Walton [-on-the-Hill] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SJ3695/walton-on-the-hill/] [accessed 25 February 2019] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it, but the priest from Bootle is noted as propietor of a carucate of land in the nearby church of "Waletone" in the Domesday entry for Bootle, as reported in a 4 July 1870 letter to the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine from a W.J. Roberts; the letter gives also information on the baptismal font in the Walton church and its misadventures. Roberts states that there are vestiges of an early font in the Walton churchyard, a font that had served as stepping stone in the nearby tavern until identified "by my friend the late Mr. Matthew Gregson, in his History and Antiquities of the county". Roberts describes the font as "circular, about three feet diameter", and comments on the appalling state of the piece, "very much mutilated" and "impossible to decipher their once intelligible character", but he does suggest that one of the six compartments on the sides "appear to be a representation of 'Christ's entrance into Jerusalem'" [cf. infra]. The font is described and illustrated in Ellis (1902) where it shows as a roughly cylindrical basin raised on a plain central shaft and three torsade patterned columns; Ellis, who obviously read Roberts' account, notes that the font was turned out of the church in 1754, used as mounting stool by the adjacent public house until ca. 1817, when Matthew Gregson published the issue and had it returned to the churchyard and eventually to the church. Ellis identifies on it: a)the Temptation; b)"a figure, with a nimbus round the head, seated on an ass, and preceded by another on foot carrying a child, apparently an unconventional representation of the flight into Egypt" and c)"some bold floral ornament", and describes the font as "an interesting specimen of early Norman workmanship" dated probably to the time of Edward the Confessor [r. 1042-1066]. Ellis gives a quote sourced to The Gentleman's Magazine (1845, pt. ii, p. 370), i.e., Roberts' letter above. The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Lancaster, vol. 3, 1907) notes: "The Church of Our Lady is at the present day of greater historical than architectural interest. The site is ancient, and a church here is mentioned in Domesday [i.e., Domesday entry for Bootle], but its chief claim to distinction lies in the fact that it is the mother church of Liverpool, St. Nicholas's Church having been a chapel of Walton till 1699. [...] The font is relic of the ancient church, now restored to use after many years of desecration, having been turned out of the church in 1754, and used as a mounting stone by the door of a neighbouring inn. It has a circular bowl, on which are six arched panels containing figure sculpture, the intervening spaces having floral patterns. The figure-subjects are damaged and indistinct, but one shows the temptation of Adam and Eve—as on the font at Kirkby—and another has been interpreted as the Flight into Egypt. The bowl of the font only is ancient." The VCH font section is footnoted "Gregson, op. cit. 142; Trans. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xvii, 60". The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SJ3589194827] notes: "Originally the parish church of Liverpool. West tower of 1828-32 by John Broadbent. The north side of 1840, with no aisle. The large south aisle/chapel is of 1911, and the rest is mostly post-war restoration. [...] Interior, re-constructed after war damage, contains Romanesque font, heavily restored, under tower, and Saxon cross at E end in vestry." The entry for this church in the CRSBI (2019) notes: "The site is medieval but there are no architectural remains of the old church. The church retains an Anglo-Saxon cross shaft, and a Romanesque font. [...] The font is of local new red sandstone, and circular. The rim decoration alternates between a protuding coarse egg-and-dart of three "eggs", and then three tongues set back. There are six pairs of these two types of ornament, and in turn, six cohesive "scenes" below them. It was turned out of the church in 1754 and was used a a mounting stool and seat outside the village pub. Around 1817 the antiquarian Matthew Gregson called attention to it, when it was moved back to the churchyard. Sometime later (definitely by 1901, but probably much earlier) it was returned to the church under the tower, where it now stands. Enemy action in 1941 caused it to be broken apart and it was restored by E. Carter Preston. Some portions of carving (the feet of Adam, some of the top decorative frieze) has been remade in red sandstone and seamlessly inserted. It used to be set on a Victorian base of ornate spiral columns which has evidentially not survived." A full description in the CRSBI entry of the six individual arches by James Cameron is followed by the following comment: "The two worst-preserved panels would be expected to be chronologically between the Annununication and the Flight of Egypt. We would expect at least one to show the Nativity. Since the cowled figure of scene 6 faces away from its companion panel, it is perhaps possible it is the Massacre of the Innocents, and scene 5 was The Nativity. In 1901, Ellis only identified three scenes and the foliage, he did not see either the Annuciation or the serpent L of Adam and Eve. It may be that these were made more visible by the post-war repairs."