Castrillon / Castrillón

Noted and illustrated in Múñiz López & García Alvarez-Busto (2007) as a baptismal font in the tradition of the pre-Romanesque fonts of Asturias, with a date somewhere between the 11th and the 13th centuries; it may have had a relationship with the Monasterio de Santa Maria de Pillarno. The authors inform tha the font was found by José María Pérez, a medical doctor in a mining company, before 1925 in Pillarno, where it was being used as a water-trough for the cattle; it was moved to Salinas, and then to a private chapel in Quinta Pérez, in La Lloba, Santiago del Monte. A grandson of the said medical doctor, and mayor of Castrillón, brought it to the attention of Múñiz López & García Alvarez-Busto. At this time [August 2010] the font is being displayed at the central hall of the Ayuntamiento de Castrillón [NB: a communication with the Ayuntamiento -courtesy of Mikel Unanue- informed BSI that the font is to go on permanent display at the future Centro de Interpretación Histórica de Raíces Viejo [sic] in Castrillón]. The font is described in Múñiz López & García Alvarez-Busto (ibid.) as roughly bucket-shaped and crudely rendered all over; the only decorative element is a potent cross, motif that probably moves the date of the font towards the late 12th or13th century. Múñiz López & García Alvarez-Busto (2007) suggest it belongs to a group of fonts established by García de Castro (1995) that includes cognate fonts at San Miguel de Conforcos (Aller), San Miguel de Barcena (Tineo) and San Juan de Sangoñéu (Tineo) and the one at Castrillón. These authors (ibid.) add that there is a good possibility that the font may have been originally associated with the Monasterio de Santa Maria de Pillarno.