Isle of Whithorn
Image copyright © [in the public domain]
PD
Results: 3 records
B01: design element - architectural - column - 4
![a shaft or vertical moulding at each angle of the square basin [cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/0020228062_compressed.png)
Scene Description: a shaft or vertical moulding at each angle of the square basin [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: MacGibbon & Ross (1896-1897, v. II: fig. 725)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 383)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font - plan, elevation, section and sketch
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 383)
Copyright Instructions: PD
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00943ISL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Transitional
Cognate Fonts: Walker (1887) mentions the font at Blairmore as similar
Church / Chapel Name: Not in a church [orig. from the Chapel of St. Ninian? -[in ruins]
Font Location in Church: The font was reported ca. 1887 "standing in an open backyard in the village" (Walker, 1887).
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Ninian [aka Nynia]
Site Location: Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Isle of Whithorn is not an island but a coastal village on the E side of Wigtown Bay, about 32 km SE of Newton Stewart, only 3-4 km E of Whithorn
Additional Comments: abandoned font / endangered font / damaged font: the font already has a big crack in the basin; it is standing in an open backyard in the village and, as Walker comments, "it runs the risk of being broken in pieces and destroyed at any moment" (Walker , 1887: 378)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Walker (1887) describes this font as "a small but early example, now standing in an open backyard in the village [...] of Transitional Norman date. The upper part of the bowl is circular, with a bold bowtell moulding, or shaft, at the angles of the square: these shafts merge into the square form at the base by means of the ordinary stop splay." (Ibid. p. 378) The basin well is hemispheric and without a drain. Walker gives the ruined chapel of St. Ninian nearby as the likely origin of this font. Described and illustrated in MacGibbon & Ross (1896-1897, v. II: 297-299): "The simple bowl of the font has been recovered, after having served for generations as a trough to bruise whins in for food for horses [...]. It is now preserved at Whithorn."
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 412184 6062205
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: cylindrical, mounted, with corner shafts
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round (with corner shafts)
Drainage System: no drainage system
Rim Thickness: 6-7 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 35 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 47.5 cm
Basin Depth: 25 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 40 cm*
Notes on Measurements: Walker (1887: 378) *[NB: it is unclear whether the height, given as 1ft. 4in., includes the base or not]
REFERENCES
- MacGibbon, David, Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland: from the Earliest Christian Times to the Seventeenth Century, Edinburgh: D. Douglas, 1896-1897, p. 297-299 and fig. 725
- Walker, J. Russell, "Scottish Baptismal Fonts", 21 or N.S. 9, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1887, pp. 346-448; p. 378 and ill. on p. 383