The village of Hempsted lies on the edge of Gloucester between the Severn and the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, somewhat isolated from the spread of the city: the cathedral is only about two miles away, and the site of the priory of Llanthony Secunda about a mile distant. The parish was abolished in 1966 when it became part of Gloucester. An earlier church was rebuilt in 1467-77 by a prior of Llanthony. Now it has a Perp tower and S porch, a Dec chancel, while the Victorians lengthened the nave and added a N vestry. A Romanesque font survived all this.

At some date, the tithes of various churches or chapels, including Hempsted, were granted to the church of St Owen in Gloucester at its foundation by Walter, constable of Gloucester. Milo, constable of Gloucester, granted St Owen’s and its appendages to Lantony Secunda at its foundation in 1136. Milo became Earl of Hereford in 1141, and gave his manor of Hemsted, and in 1151, his ‘vill’ of Hemsted also (Dawson, 145-6).

The font is called ‘fine Norman’ by Dawson, ‘Transitional’ in Verey’s edition, and ‘Early C13” in the 2002 edition. Fryer (1914, 109) says the font is Transitional, the capitals being ‘an advance towards the Early English bell capitals of the thirteenth century.’ One wonders whether the lack of sculptural decoration was a conscious aesthetic decision or if reflected a modest investment of resources.