Fore No. 2

INFORMATION

FontID: 09232FOR
Church/Chapel: Church of Blessed Mary [in ruins]
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Country Name: Republic of Ireland
Location: Westmeath / Iarmhí, Leinster
Directions to Site: Located 5-6 km E of Castlepollard, just off (S) the R395 [the church of St. Mary is behind the present Catholic Church]
Font Location in Church: Reported among the ruins of the church ca. 1968
Century and Period: 12th - 16th century, Medieval
Described in Roe (1968: 118): "a rather roughly made and asymmetrical cylinder-shaped block with hollowed-out basin and no drain", located [ca. 1968] in the ruins "of the medieval parish church of Blessed Mary of Fore which is believed to have been built on or near the site of the pre-Norman nunnery". Roe (ibid.) is reluctant to identify it with a baptismal font and writes that it "appears more likely to have been a domestic rather than ritual vessel", but still includes it in the section of the book dedicated to plain fonts. [cf. Index entry for Fore No. 1 for an interesting baptismal font at nearby St. Fechin, also in Fore, perhaps of the early 13th century].

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: cylindrical
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Rim Thickness: 7.7-9 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 28 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 43.2 cm
Basin Depth: 23 cm
Basin Total Height: 45.6 cm*
Notes on Measurements: Roe (1968: 118 *[given as estimated height in Roe]

REFERENCES

Roe, Helen M., Medieval Fonts of Meath, Longford, Ireland: Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, 1968