Kingstone is 5 mile NE of Chard in South Somerset. A satellite of Ilminster, the small hamlet lies on the northern slopes of the hills where, some 5 mi. S at the river Axe, Somerset gives way to Dorset. Those hills are of Gault, Greensand and Chalk but these northern slopes are of Jurassic formations: Kingstone lies at about 93m OD above sea-level on a ridge at the western extremity of a broad band of Yeovil Sands (Upper Lias) in the predominantly Lias context of the area. The church, which was first recorded in 1291 (VCH) consists of a nave, central axial tower and chancel, with a S porch and NE vestry. The porch and chancel date to the 14thc, but the rest of the building is 15thc. There is a font of contested date which some believe may be Romanesque.

Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, was given an estate of eight hides called Kingestan in 940 by King Edmund. The abbey retained the property until 1066, but had lost it by 1086 to the count of Mortain, whose tenant was Hubert de St. Clare. Hubert's successors held directly from the Crown on the confiscation of the Mortain estates in 1100. (VCH)

The font is included here because a notice by it claims it to be of the Transitional era, on the authority of Harvey Pridham, who undertook a comprehensive survey of Somerset fonts around the turn of the late 19th/early 20th century. Although Pridham considers the font to be 12thc, VCH states that it is Perpendicular. The question is hard to resolve. The tooling marks on the top section would seem to support a post-Romanesque date, although the base seems much rougher. Perhaps it was re-tooled, or was a later replacement inspired by an earlier original.