Bletherston / Bletherstone / Trefelen

INFORMATION

Font ID: 05712BLE
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 13th century, Early English
Cognate Fonts: another pentagonal font at Hollington (East Sussex)
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17742923
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Site Location: Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 3 km W of the Eastern Cledau, about 6 km N of the A40, 15 km EEN of Haverfordwest
Font Notes:
Noted in the RCAHMW (Pembroke, 1925): "The font bowl is in shape an irregular pentagon, its sides externally being 18, 16 1/2, 16, 14 1/2 and 14 1/2
inches, and its depth 11 inches; it appears to be of 13th-century date, and is probably coeval with the foundation of the church." Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one of only two pentagonal baptismal fonts extant; the other is at Hollington in East Sussex [cf. Index entry]. Described in Lloyd (2001): "Font. Crude bowl, oddly pentagonal". [NB: not listed in either Cox & Harvey or Bond]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: pentagonal
Basin Exterior Shape: pentagonal
Basin Depth: 27.5 cm* [?][this may be the height of the basin]
Trapezoidal Basin: 45 x 41.25 x 42.5 x 36.25 x 36.25 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [in inches in the RCAHMW (Pembroke, 1925) [NB: the depth is given as 11 inches; assumed it means inner depth of the basin]]

REFERENCES

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire, An inventory of the ancient and historical monuments of the County of Pembroke, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1925, p. 19
  • Lloyd, Thomas, Pembrokeshire, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004, p. 129
  • Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. vi, 32