Temple nr. Bodmin

Noted and illustrated in Blight (1858): "The font here depicted, lies on the floor, overgrown with briars and weeds". The font appears to be a tub-shaped basin round and plain, standing directly on the ground. Murray's Handbook for travellers […] (1865) describes church as "a miserable hamlet on a manor which belonged to the Knights Templars. They had a ch[urch] here which long since fell into decay, but still remains as a ruin. It is of late Norm[an] period. The font lies in the midst, with a young tree growing out if it." Cox (1912) writes: "The circular Norm[an] bowl of font, of Pentewan stone, 26 in. in diameter, is the one relic of the old church." Pevsner (1970) notes: "Font. Plain, circular Norman bowl (cf. Boyton)." The web site of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England and Wales [www.templars.org.uk]. link to church, Cornwall, informs that "the base of the old Norman font is preserved in the inner doorway". As it stands now [2003] the font consists of a roughly hemispherical basin that has had several repairs around the upper rim, mounted on an octagonal pedestal base and a square lower base, these two modern; the flat wooden lid is also modern.