Germoe No. 1 / St. Germoe / Saint Germoe

Described and illustrated in Blight (1863): "Although the church may have existed as a Decorated cross church, the font is certainly of earlier date, and is perhaps one of the most ancient fonts in Cornwall. It is rudely and irregularly formed, and has on opposite sides two heads carved in bold relief, whilst just between them is a curious projection of a fish-like form, extending the whole depth of the bowl." Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as the surviving basin of an old baptismal font from this church, "a cup-like bowl with a long projection corresponding to a handle and a round boss which has been turned into the rough resemblance of a human face". Noted in Cox (1912): "Rude circular bowl of font, with two heads in bold relief, is early Norm[an]. Noted in Pevsner (1970): "Font. Very primitive Norman, with three faces, one hardly recognizable." [Pevsner (Ibid.) mentions a second object in this church -- cf. Index entry for Germoe No. 2]. The KerrierDeanery web site [www.kerrierdeanery.co.uk] writes: "The present font is made up of a bowl found in the Churchyard and believed to be of Saxon origin, and may have been used in the small stone Church which was replaced by the more elaborate building of A.D. 1100. The bowl is of rough formation, ornamented with two crude heads and a peculiar fish-shaped vertical projection [...] The carved oak cover, given in 1950[...]" [cf. Index for Germoe No. 2 for another basin in this church]