Vion

A monolithic, probably Romanesque, sandstone baptismal font is mentioned in Saint-Jean (1991); the presence of this cylindrical font and a few tomb slabs in the crypt, writes Saint-Jean, "a donné lieu aux hipothèses les plus fantaisistes". Listed in Palissy [ref.: PM07000348]: "Cuve formée d'un bloc de pierre dure ayant l'apparence du marbre. […] 11e siècle". The font is round, the upper rim surface has large indentation as seen in other fonts, they appear to have no specific functional use, but rather a decorative one, like a crenellation; there are three parallel thin grooves or scotiae all around the basin sides. The lage basin rests directly on the ground. The basin interior shows at least one side drain, whether it is original or drilled later we do not know; there are other drilled holes, two in the upper rim, but those are likely to have been made to accommodate plugs for an old font cover hardware; the 'crenellations', being only on one side, could also be related to a cover.