Cruden Bay

INFORMATION

FontID: 11095CRU
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. James [originally from a nearby chantry chapel dedicated to St. Olaf?]
Country Name: Scotland
Location: Aberdeenshire
Directions to Site: Located off the A975, about 10 km S of Peterhead, 45-50 km N of Aberdeen up the A90
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Date: ca. 1012?
Century and Period: 11th century, Pre-Conquest
The Ellon + Cruden Bay Parish web site [www.freespace.virgin.net/gerald.strandraer-mull/parish], in a brief history of the Paris by Gerald Stranraer-Mull, notes about the font in Cruden St. James': "The baptismal font dates from 1012 and came from the chantry chapel built by a Scottish King and a Danish Prince after a battle on the beach at Cruden Bay, which marked the end of Viking involvement in the north-east coast of Scotland." Later, continues this source, the font, which had been laying "among the sand dunes at the Whinnyfold of the beach [...], was taken by Dr Pratt, the first rector of the present Saint James's, to the Rectory garden in Cruden Bay and it came into St James's in 1966." [NB: apparently the two persons named in this reference are king Malcolm II of Scotland and the young prince Canute, son of the Danish king, and then about 17 years old -- the old chantry chapel would have been dedicated to St. Olaf]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone