Gruiten

There is cylindrical stone basin mounted on a cast-iron frame inside the church; a metal label has been attached to it: "Taufstein aus der alten Pfarrkirche Ende 11. Jahrhundert". Lothar Weller (2016) article 'Geheimnisse hinter der Kirchhofsmauer' [https://gruitenergeschichte.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/geheimnisse-hinter-der-kirchhofsmauer/] [accessed 5 May 2024] includes a lengthy description of the reigning confusion related to the fonts here, in the section entitled 'Verwirrung um die Taufsteine', where it refers to Clemen's 1894 volume 3/II of Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz, where a totally shapeless octagonal font of the 12th century is mentioned in the churchyard ["Der achtseitige, ganz formlose Taufstein des 12. Jh. auf dem Kirchhofe"]. A cylindrical stone basin now in the tower [cf. supra] is reported in Weller (ibid.) as having been until 1981 outside, by the old church tower, at which time it was mounted on a metal base and brought into the new church. To add to the confusion Weller (ibid.) refers to Fritz Breidbach's Gruiten. Die Geschichte eines Dorfes an der Düssel (Gruiten, 1970: 18), who reports the old font with Christ's monogram as being relegated to the churchyard, specifically by the stairs leading to the tower. Further on Weller cites another source, Harro Vollmar's Geschichte von Haan und Gruiten, Teil 1: Anfänge bis 1500, Haan 1987 (Schriftenreihe der Abteilung Haan des Bergischen Geschichtsvereins e.V., Bd. 5), S. 278 ff, where a simple baptismal font stood outside, by the tower stairs [cf. supra]; Vollmar refers to the two previous authors [cf. supra] but appears to refer to a single font: "Taufbecken des 12. Jahrhunderts von Gruiten, abgestellt in der Turmhalle der alten Gruitener Kirche auf dem Friedhof nördlich oberhalb des Dorfes. Christogramm im Beckengrund", thereby merging two or three fonts into one, the font now mounted on the metal base and located in the tower. [NB: the cylindrical basin is rather small and makes one wonder whether it was originally a font at all]. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 27 March 2024) cites the above sources, as well as an entry for 1661 in the church archives, 'Archiv der Kirchengemeinde St. Nikolaus Gruiten, „Souvignier-Zebunke-Fund“, Einzelstück aus dem Jahr 1661', "an invoice from 1661 was recently found about the purchase of a new round font, because the old font was broken". [NB: we have not been able to accept that all the sources refer to a single font, as one is octagonal but shapeless, another is plain but has Christ's anagram [is this the broken one?] and the one that is now kept as font in the tower may not have been a font at all[.