Meliden No. 1 / Allt Melid / Allt Melyd / Gallt Melyd / Prestetone

There is a multiple-entry entry for Meliden and Prestatyn [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SJ0681/meliden/] [accessed 26 December 2019]; it mentions a church in it. The entry for this parish in the RCAHM's An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, vol. 2, County of Flint, p. 58 (London: HMSO, 1912) notes: "The font is use is dated 1686. The octagonal bowl of an earlier font was found during the restoration of the church in 1884; each panel represents a Gothic opening of 14th century character." The font in Meliden church is described in Hubbard (1986): "The bowl looks like late C12 or early C13. It has eight panels, each containing a pointed arch. Crude roll mouldings delineate panels and arches, and along the top is a series of stepped recesses." The parish web site [www.parishofmeliden.org.uk/page2.htm] [accessed 26 December 2019], however, notes: "The font by the door has been dated to 1175 and so has survived more than 800 years - including almost 300 years when it was walled up. It was probably hidden during the Reformation. The Church had another font, dated 1686, so that was given to Towyn - the original one, now by the door, was re-mounted in the 1930s in memory of a long-serving Vicar, the Rev. David Griffiths." A postcard with a photograph of the font is reported in COFLEIN [www.coflein.gov.uk/en/archive/6490848/details/504] [accessed 26 December 2019] [Accession Number NA/GEN/92/70e]. The entry for this church in Historic England [https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300001424-church-of-st-melyd-prestatyn] [accessed 26 December 2019] notes: "The rounded form of the original churchyard implies an early mediaeval date of foundation. A church here is referred to in Domesday. The dedication to St Melyd, possibly Mellitus, a C7 missionary, is unique in Wales. Of the present building the earliest dateable fabric (before restoration) was the west windows, which were of the C13. Evidence of C14 work is provided by the main south doorway, and the east window is C15. Most other detail of the church belongs to the C19 restoration. [...] The font is C12, octagonal with a design of panels in low relief incorporating arches with a slight point. Restored base." The octagonal basin is damaged all around the upper half; the lower half of the basin has a double pointed arch on each odf the eight sides; the rest of the font is a modern reconstruction [cf. supra]. The octagonal wooden cover is modern.