Efenechtyd / Efenechdyd / Evenechtyd / Y Eineychdyd
Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Results: 6 records
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of basin - interior
Scene Description: the lead lining blocks the view of the central drain hole
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of church exterior - door-knocker
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of church exterior - southwest view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of stoup
Scene Description: a holy-water stoup inside the church
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 16 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 01120EFE
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 2000-07-16
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century / 14th - 15th century, Norman? / Late Medieval?
Workshop/Group/Artisan: wooden font
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels / Eglwys Sant Mihangel a'r Holl Angylion
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, to the right of the entrance
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Michael & All Angels
Church Notes: There are some claims about the ancient age of this site (some going back to the 8th century), but the first documentary evidence is to 1253. Other than the font itself, the most interesting objects in this church are the unusual door knocker and a small sculpture built into the inside wall.
Church Address: Efenechtyd, Llanfwrog, Ruthin LL15 2PN
Site Location: Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Efenechtyd is about 5 km SSW of Ruthin, off the A494 (dir. Dolgellau), not far from Chester and Wrexham, (but easy to miss in any direction!)
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Asaph
Historical Region: Hundred of Ruthin
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted in Lewis' Dictionary edition of 1849: "a curious wooden fontrudely carved from one solid block of oak". The Gentleman's Magazine issue of July-Dec, 1856) reports the account given by Mr. W.W. Wynne, M.P., to the Archaeological Institute, on the font at Dinas Mowddwy, in which he also mentions a wooden font at Efenechtyd. Listed in Bond (1908), who gives "Arch. Cambrensis" as reference. Dated in many sources to the 14th or 15th century, and some as late as the 17th century. Tyrrell-Green (1928) differs from the later dating and states that "it seems to belong to the Norman period, [...] and resembles the undoubtedly Norman font at Tangmere (Sussex)." Noted and illustrated in Thurlby (2006), who favours Tyrrell-Green 's 12th-century dating. On-site notes: the gobblet-shaped font is hewn out of a solid block of wood; the outside of the basin has 14 very irregular facets whereas the inside is round andf lead-lined; the lower part of the font has a bulging ring-like ribbed base. The font is still being used for baptisms. [NB: wooden fonts of somewhat similar characteristics are listed in this Index for Efenechtyd (Wales), Leeuwarden No. 2 (Netherlands) and Uvdal (Norway)].
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 478024 5882529
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 53.091763, -3.328155
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 53° 5′ 30.35″ N, 3° 19′ 41.36″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: wood, oak
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: polygonal, unmounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: polygonal (14 sides)
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: The drain is now blocked by the lead lining.
Rim Thickness: 15 cm (6 cm at one of the sides)
Diameter (inside rim): 47-50 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 67-75 cm (min.&max. diagonals)
Basin Depth: 30 cm
Basin Total Height: 56 cm
Height of Base: 24 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 80 cm
Font Height (with Plinth): 115 cm
Notes on Measurements: BSI on-site
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern?
Material: wood, oak?
Apparatus: no
Notes: round, flat and plain; made to match the old font, but mey be modern -- old hinges still on the rim and upper side of the basin
REFERENCES
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 76 and ill. on the same page
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 161
- Davies, J.G., The Architectural Setting of Baptism, London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962, p. 68
- Fletcher, Allan, This Sweet Spot: a History of the Parish and Church of St. Michael & All Angels, Efenechtyd, Ruthin, Clwyd.: The Coelion Trust, 1996, p. 18-19
- Hubbard, Edward, Clwyd (Denbigshire and Flintshire), London: Penguin Books; University of Wales Press, 1986, p. 157
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 23
- Thurlby, Malcolm, Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Wales, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herts.: Logaston Press, 2006, p. 275 and fig. 412
- Tyack, George Smith, Lore and legend of the English Church, London: W. Andrews, 1899, p. 154
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928