Brecon No. 1 / Aberhonddu / Brycheiniog / Cicucium

Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

Results: 22 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B: animal - mammal - lion - head - beaded-tape stemming from its mouth

Scene Description: several that serve as links to the beaded-tape rings that decorate the sides of the basin; the east side of the font shown here

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2006 by Peter Reed [http://www.flickr.com./photos/petereed/219852304/in/pool-767072@N23/]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

animal - bird - eagle or dove?

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2006 by Peter Reed [http://www.flickr.com./photos/petereed/219852304/in/pool-767072@N23/]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

animal - fabulous animal or monster - unidentified

Scene Description: inside the ring to the left of the lion's head is an unidentiied animal that curles forward and bites its own tail -- above, and to the right, is a repair of inserted stone

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

animal - mammal - lion? (or dragon?) - regardant - devouring its tail

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2006 by Peter Reed [http://www.flickr.com./photos/petereed/219852304/in/pool-767072@N23/]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches - intersecting arches

Scene Description: the west and northwest sides of the font shown here

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

design element - motifs - braid - 2-strand - beaded-tape

Scene Description: notice the new-stone repair on the top left corner

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 14 August 2006 by Peter Reed [http://www.flickr.com./photos/petereed/219852304/in/pool-767072@N23/]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

design element - motifs - circle - linked circles - beaded-tape - 4

Scene Description: the east side of the font shown here

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2006 by Peter Reed [http://www.flickr.com./photos/petereed/219852304/in/pool-767072@N23/]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

design element - motifs - floral or foliage

Scene Description: very eroded and faint now

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

inscription

Image Source: Westwood (1876-1879: pl. XL fig. 5)

Copyright Instructions: PD

symbol - tree - Tree of life?

Image Source: digital photograph taken 7 July 2016 by David F. Goda

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 16 July 2016)

view of basin

Scene Description: note that the artist has simplified drastically the ornamentation leaving out most details other than the lion head and the contents of the circles

Image Source: Westwood (1876-1879: pl. XL fig. 4)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: one of the lion heads with vegetation stemmimg from the mouth; this motif has been described in some sources as a Green Man

Image Source: digital photograph taken 7 July 2016 by David F. Goda

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 16 July 2016)

view of basin - northwest and west sides

Scene Description: Shows the state of the west side; the west side is a replacement of rough stone cemented to the gap from the missing original side; the right side of the underbowl shows the side drain hole. We have not been able to locate any documentation related to this repair.

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

view of church exterior - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 May 2008 by JohnArmagh [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brecon_Cathedral.JPG] [accessed 14 December 2017]

Copyright Instructions: PD-user

view of church exterior in context

Scene Description: Source caption: "The South-East View Of Brecknock-Priory".

Image Source: digital image of a 1741 black and white print on engraving by Nathaniel and Samuel Buck, in the National Library of Wales / Llyfrgel Genedlaethol Cymru [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_South-East_View_Of_Brecknock-Priory.jpeg] [accessed 14 December 2017]

Copyright Instructions: CC-PD-Mark / PD-old-100-1923

view of font

Image Source: Westwood (1876-1879: pl. XL fig. 3)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font - east side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 7 July 2016 by David F. Goda

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 16 July 2016)

view of font - northwest and west sides

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

view of font and cover - east side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

view of font and cover - north side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

view of font and cover - south side

view of font in context - west side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 July 2017 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 13 December 2017)

INFORMATION

FontID: 05150BRE

Church/Chapel: Cathedral [formerly priory] / Church of St. John the Evangelist / Eglwys Gadeiriol Aberhonddu

Church Patron Saints: St. John the Evangelist

Church Location: Cathedral Close, Brecon LD3 9DP, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1874 623857

Country Name: Wales

Location: Powys

Directions to Site: Located on the N reaches of the Brecon Beacons National Park, about 30 kms N of Merthyr Tydfil

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Swansea and Brecon

Historical Region: formerly Brecknockshire

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, W end, centre of the nave

Century and Period: 12th century [basin and stem only], Medieval [composite]

Workshop/Group/Artisan: Aston master? / Herefordshire school [Lord]

Cognate Fonts: The font at Stottesden and the base of the font at Shobdon

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to David F. Goda, and to Colin Smith, for their photographs of this font

Church Notes: church built 1093, perhaps on the site of an earlier Celtic temple; re-built 1215; restored 19th and 20thC

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

The Antiquary (September 21, 1872: p. 224) reports a visit of the Cambrian Archaeological Society to Brecon's Priory Church and a comment made by Sir Walter Scott on the restoration of the building, referring to the font there as the only trace of work earlier than the 13th century he had found. The Architect (issue of 29 November 1873), in an article on the restoration expenditure at the Priory Church of Brecon, notes: "Sir Gilbert Scott says that, with the exception of a font, he has not been able to discover in any part of the church traces of work of earlier date than the thirteenth century." Described and illustrated in Westwood (1876-1879): "The bowl is externally carved above and below with a fascia of interlaced ribbon-work, the middle portion of the bowl divided into nearly circular compartments formed by curved ribbons, pearled down the centre of each, springing from the ears and mouths of large monstruous heads of beasts, with erect mains [i.e., manes] and large tongues or beards. The four circles still remaining (for the font has been injured and partially repaired with plain cement work) contain a large head with a gigantic tongue and topknot, a bird resembling a very lame duck, a dog biting the end of its long tail, and a honeysuckle flower-like ornament. The narrow stem on which the bowl rests is ornamented with an arcade of small interlacing arches and a flowing foliated arabesque. The rim of the font was inscribed all around the circumference, but portions have unfortunately been broken off and replaced by stucco, and even the protion which remains is very indistinct and can oly be thus partially deciphered:-- eNSIETV ... qdAINd1qvicque VE...FE SVSCIPITIS FEREOS" [NB: Westwood offers no suggestion as to its possible meaning, but Macalister (1922) suggests a quote from Mark I, 9-11 [Vulgate version: "et factum est in diebus illis venit Iesus a Nazareth Galilaeae et baptizatus est in Iordane ab Iohanne et statim ascendens de aqua vidit apertos caelos et Spiritum tamquam columbam descendentem et manentem in ipso"] -or- Matthew III, 13 ["tunc venit Iesus a Galiela in Iordanem ad Iohannem ut baptizaretur ab eo"], neither of which texts appear to have any resemblance to the transcribed text in Westwood above]. Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928): "large Norman font with lettering which is, unfortunately, undecipherable. The late Professor Freeman wrote of it (in Arch. Cam. II. v. 178): 'There is a fine Norman font with an inscription which, I believe, nobody has yet been able to decipher, and which certainly is quite beyond my powers.'" Described in Bond (1908): "the Norman font has an ancient drain discharging outside the shaft, having an opening at the junction of bowl and shaft". Peter Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003) identifies this font as one of the Herefordshire School, and "may well be the work of the Aston Master, one of the two carvers whose distinctive hand has been identified at Kilpeck and other locations". Lord (ibid.) points out the similarity of this font's motifs and treatment with those on "the font at Stottesden [cf. Index entry] and the pillars which supported the chancel arch at the Church of St John, Shobdon, in Herefordshire". [NB: the base of the font at Shobdon has related motifs as well -- cf. Index entry for Shobdon]. Described and illustrated in Thurlby (2006) as "related to the Herefordshire School of sculpture", and closely related "to the Herefordshire School font at Stottesden"; Thurlby (ibid.) further notes the similarity of the creatures and masks to those on the churches of Kilpeck and Shobdon, although he states that "the quaility of the sculpture on the Brecon font falls somewhat below the standard of the best work of the Herefordshire School. It is flatter and lacks precision". LIke its cognate at Stottesden, the Brecon font is goblet-shaped, with a roughly hemispherical basin that is raised on a broad cylindrical pedestal base and a modern polygonal plinth. The basin is decorated with a two-strand braid of beaded tape at the upper basin side; below it are four large circles of beaded tape linked "through" lion heads [NB: the circles of beaded tape actually feed into the lions' ears and exit through their mouths]; the four circles contain: 1)a bird (eagle?); 2)a lion or dragon devouring its tail; 3)a foliage or animal motif; 4)another lion or dragon. The base consists of two volumes: the upper is slightly narrower and decorated with a blind arcade of intersecting round arches; the lower volume is very worn but still shows the foliage motif all around; the drain hole of the font is on the outside, at underbowl level, on the west side; a channel has been carved down the stem and lower base side to facilitate the drainage down; the whole of the plinth is modern. The wooden cover is also modern.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.951111, -3.391944

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 57′ 4″ N, 3° 23′ 31″ W

UTM: 30U 473064 5755673

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: hemispheric (mounted) -- goblet-shaped

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: [cf. Font notes]

Font Height (less Plinth): 80 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003, vol. 3: 71)

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Notes: The inscription has been declared undecipherable by most sources, but Macalister suggests perhaps Mark I, 9-11 [cf. FontNotes]

Inscription Location: on the upper rim surface

Inscription Text: "ENSIETV [...] qdAINd1qvicque VE[...]FE SVSCIPITIS FEREOS"

Inscription Source: Westwood (1876-1879: 72)

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: round, flat and plain; modern

REFERENCES

The Visual Culture of Wales = Diwylliant gweledol Cymru, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998-2003

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908

Cox, John Charles, Nottinghamshire, London: Allen, 1912

Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart, "Notes on some of the early Welsh inscriptions", 77, Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1922, pp. 198-219; r["References"]

Mehling, Franz N., Great Britain and Ireland: a Phaidon Cultural Guide, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985

Thurlby, Malcolm, Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Wales, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herts.: Logaston Press, 2006

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928

Westwod, John Obadiah, Lapidarium Walliæ: the Early Inscribed and Sculptured Stones of Wales, delineated and described, Oxford: Printed at the University Press for the Cambrian Archælogical Association, 1976-1879