Llansantffraid nr. Aberystwyth / Llansanffraid / Llansanfraid / Llansanfret / Llansantffraed

The entry for this parish in Meyrick (1808) gives the dedication of the church as "St. Fraid Leian, daughter of Cardwrthai, of Ireland", and remarks that "the font resembles that at Hen fynyw". There is no mention of the font in Evans (1914). The entry for this church in COFLEIN [https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/96045/details/st-ffraids-church-llansantffraid] [accessed 14 January 2020] notes: "The church was a parish church during the medieval period, belonging to the Deanery of Ultra-Aeron. In 1158 Roger de Clare granted the church to the Knights Hospitaller of Slebech. In the later twelfth century the grant was confirmed by Rhys ap Gruffydd. In the later thirteenth century King Edward I tranferred the church to the Bishop of St Davids. [...] The square, limsestone font, with band of incised rosette mouldings, is twelfth-thirteenth century in date. It is similar in style to that at St David's Church, Henfynyw (NPRN 418342) and St Bledrws' Church, Betws Bledrws (NPRN 418245)." Tyrrell-Green (1928) describes the font here as one of three baptismal fonts of the Norman period in Cardiganshire that are ornamented with a band of "circular rosette-like figures" around the outer sides of the basins [the other two are Henfyniw and Bettws Bledrws]. "The design of the ornament band being identical in these three cases, one mind was evidently responsible for it, and if the fonts were actually not executed by the same hand, it would seem that a school of masons or carvers must have been at work. Such school may well have had its quarters at the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Florida in the same county. It is further remarkable that the ornament of these fonts, being formed by arrangements of circles, resembles some of the very curious carved work of Strata Florida. In the abbey ruins may still be seen considerable remains of a sort of diaper pattern which apparently adorned the wall of the chancel, and the design of which is formed of concentric circles". The font was originally (?) painted, as confirmed by Dr. T. J. Palmer (Palaeontological Association Executive Officer I.G.E.S., University of Wales Aberystwyth): "The font is in a Cardiganshire stone, and traces of red, pink, and yellow remain - mainly as tiny pockets of colour between the sand grains" [source: e-mail message of 4 June 2009 to Dr. Madelaine Gray, forwarded to BSI]. Gray (2012) writes: "This is a magnificent Romanesque font, roughly rectangular in shape with a chamfered bowl, decorated with a band of asymmetrical rosettes [...] These are all slightly different in size and design but the overall effect is impressive. The whole bowl is also asymmetrical, presumably following the line of the original block of stone. The bowl is made of Pwntan Stone, a pale Upper Ordovician sandstone. [...] The Llansanffraid stone presumably came from a quarry closer at hand, possibly the one at Bwlch-y-Fadfa near Talgarreg, which is still active [...] The stone used for the bowl exhibits a veining effect from iron staining while that of the base is similar but without the iron veining. The font has numerous traces of paint, mainly yellow, red and dark blue [...] Some of these may relate to the incident mentioned by Tyrrell-Green when a local workman was commissioned to paint the iron pillars of the church in imitation of granite and went on to paint the font as well. However, the red and yellow must be earlier and may suggest that the font was painted in the medieval period. [...] More work needs to be done, though, on the composition of the paint."