Gunwalloe No. 1

Blight (1862) notes: "in the churchyard is the fragment of an older one [i.e., font] of much superior design, and apparently of Norman date." Bond (1908) seems to vacilate on the date of this font, with its "ornament of the most archaic character", since he places it both with the Pre-Conquest as well as with Norman fonts. Bond's illustration (ibid.) shows a round basin badly damaged at the upper rim, its sides ornamented with crudely rendered arches which Bond describes as herringbone, housing vertically arranged arrow-heads; there appears to be a ribbed pattern on the underbowl. The square base looks like a totally unrelated object, much too wide for the basin, with corner buttresses or colums [not unlike some of the basins of fonts in the area]; the lower base or plinth, a square truncated pyramid, is just as mismatched [and could very well be yet another medieval font basin, or part thereoff. Cox (1912) reports two fonts inside this church at the time: "The font, 22 in. in diameter, with a flat cover, has a resemblance to that of St. Buryan. At W. end is mutilated bowl of a Norm[an] font." Tyrrel-Green (1928) reports it as only a basin from the original font. This font is noted in the Cornwall Churches web site [www.kerrierdeanery.co.uk] as one of two baptismal fonts in use in this church: "early Norman dating from about 1100, but somewhat restored. The broad arrows are a frequently found symbol for the Holy Trinity". The font appears now quite differently from how it did in Bond's time [ca. 1908?]: the basin has been drastically cleaned and the upper area has been repaired; the mid section visible in Bond's photograph is now gone, and a new cylindrical pedestal base has taken its place; the square pyramidal section or lower base has been retained, and the basin has been fitted with a round wooden cover with a knob finial. This font is not noted in Pevsner (1970). [cf. Index entry for Gunwalloe No. 2 for another early font in use in this church]