Chirbury / Cireberie / Ċyriċbyrig / Llanffynhonwen

The Domesday survey mentions two churches in "Cireberie", which Anderson identifies as the "vast Saxon parish" of Chirbury. Timmins (1899) writes: "The font, which is large and extremely archaic-looking, was rescued some 3-ears ago from a neighbouring garden, where it had long done duty as a water-trough ! From its close resemblance to certain ancient holy-water stoups, recently exhibited at Shrewsbury, Mr. Burd, the vicar, considers this font was originally the holy-water stoup of the earlier monastic church." The RCAHM (Montgomery, 1911) notes: "The most ancient feature appertaining to the church is the font, whcih, however, is probably the original water basin or stoup. It is of an external diameter of 26 inches; and has four equidistant projections or handles, two being similar to solid cup-handle, and two with curve carried convexly to meet the sides of the bowl;. The lip of the bowl upon each of the convex sides is hollowed out into a little channel. The base is modern. The font at the neighbouring church of Chirbury (in England) is of similar character; as is also the remains of what is described as a font now preserved in the church of Llanmerewig. The latter is of precisely similar dimensions to that of Snead." Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a common type of early baptismal font having a bowl with "four equidistant projections giving the appearance of rude handles". T-G (ibid.) mentions the fonts at Pennant Melangell, Llanmerewig and Snead in Montgomeryshire [now Powys], as being of the same type. Noted in Newman & Pevsner (2006): "Medieval. Circular bowl with four knobs, probably made as a mortar." The base is made of three volumes [blocks?]: the upper is a false underbowl with a double chamfer, the middle and botton are vertical and plain, all octagonal and all plain. Narrow polygonal plinth with priest's stone; modern?. Flat wooden cover with metal ornamentation and ring handle, appears modern. [NB: we have no information on the original fonts of the two churches noted in Domesday Book]