Bletherston / Bletherstone / Trefelen

INFORMATION

FontID: 05712BLE
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Country Name: Wales
Location: Pembrokeshire
Directions to Site: Located 3 km W of the Eastern Cledau, about 6 km N of the A40, 15 km EEN of Haverfordwest
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 13th century, Early English
Cognate Fonts: another pentagonal font at Hollington (East Sussex)
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
Lloyd, Thomas, Pembrokeshire, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004
Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928