Dinas-Mawddwy / Dinas Mowddwy

The Gentleman's Magazine issue of July-Dec, 1856) reports the account given by Mr. W.W. Wynne, M.P., to the Archaeological Institute "of a singular wooden font of great antiquity and bearing an inscription which has not been satisfactorily explained, found in a turbary in Merionethshire. He produced a drawing of the curious object: the font is of knotty oak, rudely fashioned with the axe, and formed with two cavities,--one of large dimensions, capable of containing about six quarts [i.e., 1 1/2 Imperial gallons, almost 7 litres]; the other is at one side, of small diameter, and surrounded by a wreath of foliage coarsely craved on the margin; near this is also to be decyphered the word ATHRYWYN, whic has been interpreted 'discordantes sejungere', which may signify the cessation of the conflict between Christianity and Paganism, or the separation of the lusts of the flesh from the purity of the spirit by virtue of the holy Sacrament. The word may also signify happiness, pacification, or, as a verb, to reconcile. This primitive relique is now preserved in the hall at Pengwern, the seat of Lord Mostyn". Westwood (1876-1879) cites an article from the Journal of the Archaeological Institute (1856, vol. XIII: 292), reproduced in Archaeologia Cambrensis (1872: 258), of "an account, compiled by Richard Llwyd in 1790 [...] given by Mr. W.W.E. Wynne, M.P. [which is of the same initial source as quoted in The Gentleman's Magazine above]. Described and ilustrated in Bond (1908); a "block font found in a bog", "formed by sinking a hollow in a trunk or root of a tree"; the odd-looking object, shaped somewhat like a vessel of sorts, has a flat upper surface at the top with two holes, a small one on the right side and a larger one in the centre; on the sides of the holes on this upper surface, an olive branch is incised on either side; at the opposite end, an inscription [cf. Inscription area], "the word 'Athrywyn', which probably signifies 'reconciliation' or 'pacification'". (Ibid.). Bond (ibid.) reports the font as "preserved in Pengwern Hall, Denbigshire". Also described and illustrated in Tyrrell-Green (1928), who identifies the material as a "a piece of knotty oak". Farther on in this same source (ibid.) T-G writes about the inscription: "has a single word engraved upon it, which brings it into this class of fonts with inscriptions having a doctrinal significance. The word is the old Welsh ATHRYWYN. See in the Welsh Bible, 2 Sam. xiv. 6" 'Ac ilth law-forwyn yr oedd dau fab, a hwynt ill dau a ymrysonasant yn y maes; ond nid oedd athrywynwr rhyngddynt hwy; ond i naill a darawodd y llall, ac u'i lladdodd ef.' The English version (marginal reading) dives: 'There was no deliver between them,' a literal rendering of the original [here Hebrew text that cannot be reproduced]. Cf. also Prov. xviii. 18: 'Y coelbren a wna i gynhennau beidio, ac a athrywyn rhwng cedyrn.' In view of these uses of the Welsh word it seem s to mean 'Reconciliation,' and thus indicate that man, who is by nature the child of wrath, is at the font reconciled to God and made the child of grace."