Rathmichael

"The broken font or bullaun [in italics in the original], sunk in the ground near the gate, has been dug up, and I could find no trace of it anywhere", wrote Thomas J. Westropp to the Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, of which he was fellow, and was recorded in its Journal edition for 1894 (vol. 24: 181), followed by a call to the Board of Works "to remove thes stones from the psoition of certain destruction to which the enlightened action of the authorities exposes them at present". The same issue of this Journal (p. 291) registers the action that followed, as reported to the Society by E.R. M'C, Dix., when the latter addressed the issue with the Rathdown Board of Guardians, which promptly "took the matter up [... and] succeeded in tracing the missing bullaun [in italics in the original], which was in the possession of the Master of the Workhouse. The text of the resolution reached by the said Board is included in E.R. M'c's report: "ORDERED-- 'The holy water stoop [sic] or font, to be replaced in the graveyard [...]. The caretaker, Kennedy, to be ordered to keep the graveyard in proper order [...]'". This object must be the one reported in Ball's 'A History of the County of Dublin' (1902-1920, vol. 3, chapter 6) as "a granite font [...] found in the graveyard" [source: K. Finlay's transcription of Ball's text in http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/ball1-6/Ball3.6l.htm]