Defynnog No. 1 / Devynock

Described and illustrated In Westwood (1976-1879) with measurements [NB: Westwood spells the name "Devynock"], who writes of the inscription on the upper rim surface: "I am entirely incapable of deciphering , or even of determining whether it may not be intended to be read in an inverted position. The characters are sufficiently deep and clear, so as not to admit of any doubt as to most of their forms." Described and illustrated by Peter Lord in Diwylliant... (1998-2003) as a composite baptismal font consisting of three parts: the basin proper, a smallish shallow cylindrical bowl carved with circles, vertical button-holes and saltires around the sides and bearing an inscription on the upper surface of the rim that includes the name "Siwvrd Gwlmer". Lord (ibid.) informs that although the lettering has been commonly described as Runic in the past, it has been identified as Lombardic capitals by Rosamund Moon (Arch. Camb., CXXVII, 1978: 124-126). Lord (ibid.) makes reference also to a stone bearing an inscription that appears related to the above name; it is on a tomb stone catalogued and illustrated in Nash-Williams (1950), and the inscription reads: "HIC IACET [S]I[U(?)]LERD [F]ILIVS / VVLMER", where it is dated 11th-12th century. The base of the Defynnog font appears to be an inverted font basin, bucket-shaped and girdled with a flat moulding' The lower base is a common combination of a round upper volume with three-leaf motif at 90-degree angles that coincide with the corners of the square lower volume [cf. for instance the lower base of the font at St. Woolos' cathedral in Newport, or other Herefordshire School sculpture of the same period]. Thurlby (2006) rejects the 11th-century date claim and adds: "the leaves at Defynnog recall nothing better than a single stiff-leaf characteristic of early Gothic capitals of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. This would also suit interpretation of early raised diagonal crosses on the bowl as a flattened version of dog-tooth ornament." [cf. Index entry for Defynnog No. 2 for an early holy-water stoup in the same church]