Ile-d'Yeu / Île-d'Yeu

INFORMATION

FontID: 05587YEU
Church/Chapel: Eglise Notre-Dame-du-Port [orig. from the grotte de St-Amand]
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Country Name: France
Location: Vendée, Pays de la Loire
Directions to Site: Located in the canton de l'Île-d'Yeu, arrondissement des Sables-d'Olonne
Font Location in Church: At the entrance of the church, on the ground
Century and Period: 6th - 9th century?, Early Christian
Described and illustrated in Le Patrimoine... de la Vendée (2001, v. 1: 406) as the holy-water stoup from the nearby grotte de St-Amand; the same source informs that, although legend has that this grotte was St-Amand's refuge, in reality it was a secret place used by the monks of the monastery of St-Hilaire to hide the monastery's valuables during the Sarracen and Viking invasions. It may have been a stoup at the monastery or a container for ablutions [neither of these functions would appear very likely but, least of all the latter]. The stoup is a crude, perhaps rounded, rather amorphous block of granite with a shallow well.

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: cylindrical (unmounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Diameter (includes rim): 60 cm
Basin Total Height: 42 cm
Notes on Measurements: Le Patrimoine... de la Vendée (2001, v. 1: 406)

REFERENCES

Le Patrimoine des communes de la Vendée, Paris: FLOHIC, 2001