Slane / Baile Shláine / Sláine

INFORMATION

Font ID: 09256SLA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 2025-07-12
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 16th century [basin only], Medieval [altered]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Patrick (R.C.) [originally from the medieval church on the hill]
Font Location in Church: Reported ca. 1968 outside the new [18th-century] R.C. church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Patrick
Church Notes: present church 1797; there is a fragment of an old stone cross decorated with figures mounted on a metal frame and installed in the chancel, south of the altar
Church Address: Main St, Slane / Monknewtown, Meath, Ireland
Site Location: Meath / An Mhí, Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Europe
Directions to Site: Located off the N2-N51 crossroads, 13 km NE of Navan, 15 km W of Drogheda
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Meath
Additional Comments: recycled font: the basin of the old medieval church is now in the new parish church (outside); the base is modern
Font Notes:
Listed in Wilde (1949: 159). Described in Roe (1968: 127) as the bowl of the original baptismal font from the medieval church of Slane, "a nicely finished octagonal vessel, chamfered gently below with a circular basin and a central drain, now blocked". Roe (ibid.) [after Wilde?] informs that the old medieval curch on the hill was abandoned ca. 1712 when a new parish church was built at a more convenient location in the village, and that the font must have remained there "until it was presented in the 19th century by the Marquess of Conyngham to the then new Catholic Church" [i.e., St. Parick's]. At the time of Roe's visit [ca. 1968] the font was placed "outside the church on a modern pedestal and has been provided with a cover". On-site visit: The basin is octagonal and has plain sides; several damaged spots around the upper rim; it has no lining; the underbowl chamfer appears to be a recent cut; the base is modern

COORDINATES

UTM: 29U 662137 5953903
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 53.7086, -6.5434
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 53° 42′ 30.96″ N, 6° 32′ 36.24″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Number of Pieces: two
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: central [now blocked] -- no lining
Rim Thickness: 10 cm* / 8-11 cm**
Diameter (inside rim): 53.5 cm* / 53 cm**
Diameter (includes rim): 70-75 cm**
Basin Depth: 19.5 cm* / 21 cm**
Height of Basin Side: 24.2 cm* / 23 cm**
Basin Total Height: 33 cm**
Height of Base: 55 cm** [modern]
Basin Upper Panel Dimensions: 24.2 cm (high) x 28.5 (wide)*
Basin Lower Panel Dimensions: 9 cm (high) x 27 tapering to 26 cm (wide)*
Font Height (less Plinth): 88 cm** [includes modern base]
Notes on Measurements: *Roe (1968: 127) / ** BSI on-site

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Wilde, W., Beauties of Boyne and Blackwater, [s.l.]: [s.n.], 1949, p. 127