Penbryn No. 2 / Llanfihangel Penbryn / Llanvihangel Pen y Bryn / Llanvihangel Penbryn

Image copyright © Tim Palmer, 2009
Image and permission received (e-mail of 17 March 2010)
Results: 6 records
design element - motifs - groove
design element - motifs - groove
design element - motifs - scallop and dart
view of church exterior - southwest view
view of church interior - looking east
INFORMATION
FontID: 12449PEN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Michael [cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saints: St. Michael
Church Location: Penbryn, Llandysul SA44 6QL, UK
Country Name: Wales
Location: Ceredigion
Directions to Site: Located N of the A487, 3-4 km NE of Aberporth, 14 km NNE of Cardigan
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Davids
Historical Region: formerly Cardiganshire
Font Location in Church: In the porch
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Transitional?
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr.Tim Palmer, of the Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, for his information on, and photograph of this font
Font Notes:
Click to view
Meyrick (1808) reports: "The font is a square bason". Noted in Lewis' Dictionary edition of 1849: "the font is an ancient square basin". Listed in Thurlby (2006) as one of several "table-top fonts with scalloped undersides in Cardiganshire" [including: Llanfihangel Ystrad, Mynt, Penbryn, Sarnau, Tremain]; this particular one: "in the porch with three scallops to each side of the square bowl with angle fillets between the undersides of the scallops". The entry for this church in COFLEIN [https://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/105363/details/st-michaels-church-penbryn] [accessed 19 January 2020] notes: "During the medieval period the church was a parish church of the deanery of Sub-Aeron, at which time it was a possession of Talley Abbey (Premonstratensian). [...] The nave is thirteenth-century in date. The chancel dates from the fourteenth century. The porch dates from the seventeenth century. The church was restored in 1887 [...] The church was renovated in 1957 [...] The square font is medieval in date. Another medieval font is in the porch. The limestone square, scalloped font dates to the twelfth century, and was originally from St Llawddog's Church, Cenarth (NPRN 309895). It was removed to St Michael's from St John's Church, Sarnau (NPRN 400366)." The entry for this church in British Listed Buildings [https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300009899-church-of-st-michael-penbryn] [accessed 19 January 2020] notes: "Plain square tooled font with deeply chamfered underside on cylindrical shaft and square base. Possibly C13."
Noted by Tim Palmer as a 'scallop and dart' font made of Dundry stone [source: e-mail communication of 17 March 2010 to BSI]. Palmer notes two other Ceredigion 'scallop and dart' fonts, those at Llanfihangel Ystrad and Tremain, although the font at Llanfihangel Ystrad has had the 'dart' motif chiselled off.
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.144167, -4.493056
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 8′ 39″ N, 4° 29′ 35″ W
UTM: 30U 397833 5778124
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, Dundry stone
Font Shape: square (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
REFERENCES
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831
Meyrick, Samuel Rush, The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardigan [...], London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1808
Thurlby, Malcolm, Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Wales, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herts.: Logaston Press, 2006