Culmullen / Culmullin

Described in Cogan (1992 c1862, vol. II: 351): "The font is oval, measuring one foot six inches internally, by one foot three and a-half inches; it consists of six compartments, and has an aperture. The bowl and pedestal are all one stone, and measure in height one foot eleven inches".
Described in Roe (1968: 112-113) as a medieval baptismal font of "very unusual form with eight sides, two of which are wide, two medium and four narrow making an oval outline", thus forming the basin, which overhangs the lower panels that "seem vertical and not chamfered. The basin [i.e., the inside well] is oval and flat-bottomed with a central drain". The font "is on the ground, close to the pathway through the graveyard. It is deeply overgrown and in part enbedded in the earth." Roe (ibid.) refers to Cogan [cf. Author Notes below], who had described the basin well as being divided into six compartments internally, a description in disagreement with what Roe found at the time of her visit. Roe's illustration of ca. 1968 shows the upper rim badly broken and/or eroded, and the basin covered in lichens, but the Culmullen Parish site [www.culmulleparish.ie] shows [ca. 2000?] the font with the lower base portion visible in what appears to be an enclosed area of the building.
Notes by Neill O’Riordan in the Dunshaughlin & Culmullen Parish [https://dunshaughlin-culmullenparish.ie/churches/st-martin-of-tours-church-culmullen/] [accessed 27 July 2025] report: "The church was renovated in 1921 and again in 1989. The medieval baptismal font from Old Culmullen was also moved to the church."