Llanidloes No. 1

Described and illustrated in Hamer (1873) [the description of the font is credited to "Mr. Martin Underwood"]: "The font is Perpendicular work only the top remains at present as shewn in one of the plates". The illustration in Hamer (ibid.), labelled "remains of a font", shows the octagonal basin of a typical baptismal font of the Perpendicular period, the vertical sides decorated with panels inscribing a rosette in a quatrefoil withing a cricle, the underbowl chamfer decorated with trefoiled tracery; no base, the basin resting directly on the ground [NB: a second font is illustrated there; cf. Index entry for Llanidloes No. 2]. Noted in a letter to the editor of 'Archaeologia Cambrensis' (issue no. XXIX, 4th series, January 1877: 156-157) from "E.O.": "There is an old font in this church. It was formerly in a kind of lumber room on the ground floor of the steeple, but it has been removed inside the church by the present incumbent, and it now lies close to the font that presumably took its place, and it blocks up the recess where the more modern font is placed." The Antiquary (issue of June 1882: 270) reports on the renovations being carried out at St. Idloes Church, Llanidloes, under the plans of "Mr. Street", and notes: "very old font has been placed on a pedestal facing the west door" [NB: the source does not mention what the earlier location was, nor does it specify if the base is a modern replacement]. The RCAHM (Montgomery, 1911) records a basin of a font "of the first half of the 14th century" on a modern base in this church. The CPAT Montgomeryshire Churches Survey Project [www.cpat.demon.co.uk] reports a 14th-century font in this church.