Llanedwen / Plas Newydd / Plasnewydd

Lewis' Dictionary of 1833 reports the church here as a "neat edifice of great antiquity" but does not mention a font in it. A painting by Lady Delamere (1835) shows a font re-used in a garden arrangement at the summerhouse in Plas Newydd estate; this font was said to be originally from the Valley Crucis Abbey. The British Museum has a 1838 etching by Alfred Clint ["working proof, before further lines added to the font. 1838"] of a the same font at the Plas Newydd estate [ref.: AN1066004001 / Department: Prints & Drawings. Registration number: 1885,0509.1435. Location: British XIXc Unmounted Roy]. The print proof was destined for "Illustration to 'The Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales' (London: Henry Colburn, 1838; Whittaker & Co., 1853)", according to the BM cataloguing notes. The font shown in this etching consists of an octagonal basin decorated with mouldings, a curved underbowl chamfer; raised on an octagonal pedestal base and a splaying lower base; the font appears to stand in water, in a narrow alcove (?) with a pointed arch opening. This is not the font described by Glynne (1860- ) in his visit to this church in May 1850: "A very small church in a lovely situation [...] The font is cylindrical." This church and its font would soon be replaced, as the Historic Wales Listed Building Database Record entry for this church [http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php?id=19743] [accessed 9 March 2012] notes: "Rebuilt in 1856 by H Kennedy, architect of Bangor. Built to replace an earlier church, a little of the old masonry was retained in the lower part of the west wall. [...] Font; octagonal sandstone set on single pillar, with carved cross within rectangle in facing panel." [NB: the font in the 1835 painting and in the 1838 etching is not the one used in the re-built church; a YouTube video [www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE3uPRpec1M] [accessed 9 March 2012 shows the font still in the alcove-like location, near the Plas Newydd summerhouse -- some unconfirmed sources suggest this font was brought over in 1782 from the Valle Crucis Abbey (on the A542, 2 km NW of Llangollen) by the two resident ladies, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby].