Llanfair-y-Cwmmwd / Llanfair Cwmmwd / Llanfair-yn-y-Cwmwd

Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

Results: 10 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B: symbol - cross - Greek - 4

Scene Description: one on each side of the basin

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

design element - motifs - chevron

Scene Description: a series of irregular chevrons on some of the sides

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

design element - motifs - rope moulding

Scene Description: around the side of the font, framing some of the other motifs/symbols

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

design element - motifs - zigzag

Scene Description: much damaged on some sides

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

human figure - head - 5

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

symbol - cross - Greek

Scene Description: between some of the heads on the lower basin side

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

view of church exterior - northwest view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 1 September 2008 by Bill Nicholls [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/965794] [accessed 1 September 2008]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: digital photograph taken by Eric Jones 13 June 2008 [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/844119] [accessed 19 September 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken 20 November 2009 by Madeleine Gray

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 September 2013)

INFORMATION

FontID: 05452LLA

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Country Name: Wales

Location: Anglesey, Gwynedd

Directions to Site: Located near Dwyram, 3 km NE of Newborough, on the NW shores of the Menai Straits, 7 km across from Caernarfon, 10 km from Bangor

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Bangor

Historical Region: Hundred of Menai

Font Location in Church: Inside the church

Century and Period: 12th century (late?) [basin only] [composite font], Medieval [composite]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr. Madeleine Gray, of the School of Education/Ysgol Addysg, University of Wales, Newport/Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd, for her photographs of this font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Romilly Allen (1884) writes: "The cross symbol does not occur frequently on fonts of the Norman period. Early examples are to be found at Llanfair y Cymwd, and at Llan Jestyn, in Anglesey [...], also at Kea, in Cornwall" [footnote: "Archaeological Journal, vol. i, p. 126"]. Mentioned in Bond (1908) as having an oval form, a shape " common in the fonts of Anglesea" [/Anglesey]. Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a tank-like baptismal font of the Norman period, oblong, and ornamented with six (?) human heads. Described and illustrated by Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003), who dates it to the 12th century; Lord suggests that one of the heads, the one that has a cross over it and another on the side, may represent Christ. Stocker (1997) remarks on the shape which he refers to the sarcophagus and the theme of burial. Noted and illustrated in Thurlby (2006) who suggests a date contemporary with the head-decorated Cornish fonts of the late 12th century [NB: Thurlby identifies five heads -- Tyrrell-Green [cf. supra] gives six]]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 53.17522, -4.325155

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 53° 10′ 30.79″ N, 4° 19′ 30.56″ W

UTM: 30U 411431 5892583

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: oblong (oval top, rectangular bottom) (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: oval

Basin Exterior Shape: oblong (oval top, rectangular bottom)

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: square, with a Greek cross finial/handle

REFERENCES

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

Allen, J. Romilly, "Notes on Early Christian Symbolism", N.S., VI, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1884, pp. 380-464; r["References"]

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

Stocker, D.A., "Fons et origo: The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of English Font Stones", I (1997b), Church Archaeology, 1997, pp. 17-25; r["References"]

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