Corhampton, a village in the Meon valley in E Hampshire, is served by a two-cell church built in the first half of the 11c. It retains distinctive Anglo-Saxon features such as long-and-short work, pilaster strips, a chancel arch with large, plain imposts, and a blocked N doorway with moulded imposts. A W bell turret, W gallery and S porch have been added to the nave. The E end of the chancel was rebuilt in brick in 1855, and a small N vestry added. The font probably dates from c.1200.

A church existed at Corhampton in 1086. The manor and the advowson were held by Hugh de Port and his descendants until the mid-13thc, when the church was granted to Titchfield Abbey.

The gallery at the W end of the nave may date from the 1830s. The E end of the chancel was rebuilt, and the vestry added (?), in 1855. In 1905-06 the structure was strengthened and the S porch and bell turret were rebuilt.

The font was regarded as Anglo-Saxon by many 19thc antiquarians, and continues to be assigned to that period by several modern websites. The church guidebook, on the other hand, regards it as an example of ‘Saxon-Norman overlap’ (2013 edition). All of this is undoubtedly incorrect, as is Butler’s suggestion that it was inspired by a 14thc knight’s helmet (Hampshire Post, 12 November 1909, 4).

Most 20thc historians have placed the font in the 12thc or 13thc. In 1908, for example, the VCH commented that, while the detail looked 12thc, ‘the small size and general reworking of the surface make its attribution to so early a period unlikely’. Horseman’s phase plan of 1917 identified it as 13thc. It was simply called ‘Norman’ in the HE list description and by Pevsner & Lloyd (both 1967).

Essentially, the size and shape of the font suggest the early 13thc, but cable motif was more common in the 12thc. On balance, it may date from c.1200.