Buttington

An illustration of this font is reported in 'Collections historical & archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders' (vol. IV). A later volume of this publication contains a description of the church at Llanidloes, in which is included an illustration of a respond with almost identical decoration to the re-cycled font of this church, said to be originally a capital from nearby Strata Marcella. Still a later volume [cf. Williams infra] shows this font in the context of the excavation report of 1891, and refers to comments made by J[ohn]. Parker in his 'Architectural Drawings' (vol. ii, p. 85) in which Parker identified the object as an original font, not a re-used capital. The 'Salopian shreds and patches' (issue of 3 September 1879: 216) reports on a visit to Buttington Church and the area by members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association: "They went to Buttington Church first, and examined the exterior and interior to see what could be found out. The chief thing was the church font, which had, there was no doubt, been the capital of a column which had been taken away; and the portion he referred to had been utilised for a font, and being the top it was easily adapted to its present purpose, and almost made ready to hand [...] The Rev D.P. Lewis said that the font at Buttington was square, when found but by taking away the mortar it was found in its present state; and it was thought to be from Strata Marcella." Noted in the inventory of the RCAHM (Montgomery, 1911): "The font basin is believed to have originally formed the capital of one of the piers in the abbey church of Strata Marcella, with the character of which it is in perfect accord. An Excellent drawing is in Mont. Coll. 1891, xxv, 187." Noted in Williams (1891) report on the excavations at Strata Marcella, where it is compared to similar capitals in the Abbey of Cwmhir (illustrated in Mont. Collections, vol. xxiv, p. 414). Noted in the CPAT Montgomeryshire Churches Survey Project [www.cpat.demon.co.uk]: "The font (fashioned from a capital of c.1220) was reputedly brought from Strata Marcella Abbey nearby." The high-relief foliage is most unusual; the lower base/plinth and the wooden cover are modern. [NB: Abbey of Strata Marcella [Abaty Ystrad Marchell], was a Cistercian monastery founded in the late-12th century near Welshpool, about 2 km from Buttington. The capital in question may have been re-cycled in the mid-16th century, after the Dissolution].