Llanwrthwl No. 1

Main image for Llanwrthwl No. 1

Image copyright © [in the public domain]

PD

Results: 5 records

BH01: human figure - head - 4

Scene Description: very crude, at 90-degree angles on the upper basin side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: fig. 7)
Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: fig. 7)
Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font and cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Ibbotson, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph by John Ibbotson in www.megalithic.co.uk
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lord, 2003
Image Source: Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003, vol. 3: pl. 105)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Thurlby, 2006
Image Source: B&W photograph in Thurlby (2006)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

Font ID: 05618LLA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Transitional?
Cognate Fonts: Similar in general shape: Brayton, Llanwenog and Upton; also with heads: Rhayader, Silian, St Harmon, Pencarreg, all in Wales [cf. FontNotes]; also fonts of ther Mosan group
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Gwrthwl, Llanwrthwl
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Gwrthwl
Church Address: Llanwrthwl, Llandrindod Wells LD1 6NT, United Kingdom
Site Location: Powys, Wales, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the A470, 5-6 km S of Rhayader, about 40 km ESE of Aberystwyth
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Swwansea and Brecon
Historical Region: formerly Breconshire/Radnorshire
Additional Comments: [e-mail sent to John Ibbotson req'g permission to repro his photo -- 12 Dec 2006]
Font Notes:
Described and illustrated in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a hemispherical basin ornamented with four crude heads located on the upper basin side at 90-degree angles; the base is a plain cylindrical shaft; the lower base or plinth is also plain and circular, but much wider. Tyrrell-Green (ibid.) dates to the late Norman period. Described and illustrated by Peter Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003), who dates it to the 12th century and gives also the fonts at St. Harmon and Rhayader as varying in size but "identical in conception". A recent photograph of this font by John Ibbotson can be found in www.megalithic.co.uk [accessed 12 December 2006]. Thurlby (2006), who suggests a 13th-century dating for this and the Pencarreg fonts through similarities with other such sculptural details of the 13th century in nearby Bristol, and Salisbury, for instance. [cf. Index entry for Llanwrtwl No. 2 for a holy-water stoup of the same period also adorned with a human head motif]

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 465879 5790816
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.266667, -3.5
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 16′ 0″ N, 3° 30′ 0″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Number of Pieces: three?
Font Shape: hemispheric, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round (with heads)

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: plain round, with handle atop; modern

REFERENCES

  • The Visual Culture of Wales = Diwylliant gweledol Cymru, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998-2003, vol. 3: p. 80 and pl. 105
  • Thurlby, Malcolm, Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Wales, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herts.: Logaston Press, 2006, p. 259 and fig. 374
  • Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 24, 72 and fig. 7 on p. 24