Monknewtown / Dowth

Roe (1968: 124-125) describes three objects she found outside the modern Catholic Church at Monknewtown: two of them were together at the time of her visit [ca. 1968], one on top of the other; the top part -said to have come originally from the old church at nearby Dowth- "is an eight-sided, flat-bottomed vessel, the sides tapering slightly from top to bottom"; the basin well is round without a drain; the second object, now serving as base for the previuously described basin, is described in Roe (ibid.) as "a massive rather roughly finished cylinder with a basin hollowed in the top" and, in Roe's opinion, "it seems to be another example of those cylindrical or block stones, best regarded as domestic in purpose". The third object -also said to have come from Dowth- is described in Roe (ibid.) as "a small mortar with four lugs, one of which is channelled for pouring". This would be clear enough were it not for the observations recorded by Anthony Cogan (1992 c1862, vol. II) for Monknewtown (p. 304) and for Dowth (p. 307). As Roe points out, Cogan had reported after his visit to Dowth: a piscina, a stoup and a font on a pedestal. Cogan (ibid., p. 307) described the font as "large and circular with a diameter of 1ft. 11 ins. (58.4 cm.)and in depth externally 1 ft. 7 ins. (48.3 cm.)", measurements which, Roe admits, are "approximate to those of the vessel here, but as the eight sides are clearly defined, its description as circular is difficult to accept". Cogan (ibid., p. 304) had described the Monknewtown as "square and broken" and given its measurements thus: the diameter of the bowl as 1 ft. 5 ins., which Roe translates as 43.2 cm. and remarks that Cogan's description and measurements "can scarcely be taken to apply to the cylindrical stone here", and that "without further evidence, therefore, the exact identification of these two vessels as the fonts of Dowth and MonKnewtown respectively, remains somewhat uncertain". Roe does accept, however, that the "nicely made little mortar [now at Monknewtown] may perhaps represent the 'stoup' seen by Cogan at Dowth".