Newborough / Llananno / Newborough St. Peter / Niwbwrch / Rhos Hir / Rhos Vair

Lewis's Dictionary (1833) reports "a small church, dedicated to St. Mary, which stood at the head of the manor", and another in Llandwyn, a hamlet of Newborough: "Of the ancient church of Llanddwyn only the eastern gable, with some portion of the east window, can be seen : it was situated on a flat near the sea-shore, and was a fine structure, originally founded by St. Dwynwen, the tutelar saint of lovers, to whom it was dedicated, about the year 465". Lewis (ibid.) is not impressed by St. Peter's itself: "The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a small edifice, possessing no claims to architectural description ; it stands on an eminence in a bleak and exposed situation", and mentions nothing further about it. Jones (1846a) dates the font to the 12th century. The National Gazetteer of 1868) reports "a curious font of the 12th century" in this church [NB: the Gazetteer notes also that the church was "dedicated to St. Arno or Anno, and subsequently to St. Peter"]. Described and illustrated in Nash-Williams (1950): "Truncated comical tub font, with chamfered rim [...]. Gritstone. Decorated around the outer wall with three raised square panels containing deeply-cut designs: (a)plain (partly doubled-beaded) cruciform interlaced knot formed of four conjoined triquetras (R.A.733); (b)double vertical row of debased double-beaded loop-pattern (based on R.A.549) [...]; (c)conventional cruciform ring-knot (R.A.724, with ring). The back is plain. 12th century. Inside parish church [...]." Noted in Lewis' Dictionary edition of 1849: "A relic of a previous church is still preserved, in the font; this us probably of the twelfth century, but it has been defaced by later workmen, and has received successive coats of whitewash." In Edwards (1986) with 12th-century date. Noted and illustrated in Thurlby (2006) with references to the fonts at Cerrigceinwen and Trefdraeth and, more remotely, to those at Heneglwys and Llanbeulan, all of them in the Anglesey area, and probably dating from the 12th century. Noted and illustrated in Pritchard (2009) [NB: in a communication from Pritchard to Madelaine Gray, passed on to BSI, she writes: "Newborough - this is unlikely to be Romanesque. I have dated it as earlier on local & regional sculptural parallels. Most likely late C10th- early C11th - making it very early! Of similar date are two other Anglesey Fonts. The blank face/panel. Is fairly common. the most obvious reason being the intended loaction on the font. why decorate an area which will not be seen as it is against a wall? I have heard other suggestions, all of which sound more interesting, but none of which have any supporting evidence.."