Vielha No. 2 / Viella

One of the many so-called 'oil-fonts' ["piques d'oli"] of the area, said by some to have been the original immersion fonts later replaced by the ones introduced in the 12th-13th century. Although this one fits the general size and oblong shape, it is quite different from the others that remain in the valley, plain and very stylised in design. On-site notes: the object was shown to us in the churchyard by the valley's senior cleric; it was not clear whether the grass growing in it at the time of our visit [it was being used as a flower-pot] was from soil inside it or because it had lost its bottom and the ground was visible through it; it appeared totally plain except for some low-relief diamond motifs on one of the sides. The cleric made reference to the well-known text by Serrate i Forga (1974) to defend the early dating claims, but his dating is not accepted for this type of font by most later scholars, indeed, they are not even totally convinced of their identification as fonts. The 'new' font in this church [cf. Index entry for Vielha No. 1] is a beautiful Romanesque object. [NB: vessel not unlike the ones listed for Kirk Marown, on the Isle of Man or another such found in the region of Hautes-Alpes [cf. Index entry for Salle-les-Alpes No. 6]]