Font (present location)

The National Monuments Service's description

The font has been recently removed from St. Nicholas C of I church (WM003-083----) and is now on display inside St. Mary’s R.C. Church or the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Fearmore, Coole Upper (pers. comm. Edel Scally, Westmeath Co. Co. 13/03/2023).
Freestanding limestone octagonal shaped font described by Roe (1968, 83) as a ’remarkable and beautifully proportioned octagonal vessel, the under panels of which are chamfered and slightly concave and completed by a chamfered octagonal moulding. The shaft (H 0.4m x Wth 0.14m) is octagonal and finished by a similar moulding, below which is a square base (Wth 0.54m; H 0.11m), the angles of which are so chamfered as to produce a sub-octagonal form. The basin (diam. 0.47m; D 0.19m; T 0.075m) is circular with slightly sloping sides, flat bottom and central drain’. The font is decorated with four human heads, three of which are mitred ecclesiastics and the fourth of a woman that project out from the panels (0.25m x 0.25m) on the side of the font. On the panel between the head of the woman and the mitred ecclesiastic there is an incised inscription in Roman capitals which reads ‘ORATE P ME / THOMA / DOVILE / VICARIO DE / MAYNE / R F S 1630’ which translates as Pray for me, Thomas Dovile, Vicar of Mayne. A second inscription on the panel between two mitred ecclesiastics consists of the capital letters E F followed by a blank space then the letter S followed by the date 1630. One panel of the octagonal shaped shaft is decorated in low relief with ‘a foliate motif of leady tendrils and a zig-zag band running from top to bottom of the design’ (ibid.). The base of the font has four broad chamfer stops and the date 1640 crudely carved into it followed by the words ‘OMEG V’. Font described in 1901 as an ‘octagonal stone font in west porch of church: Four stone heads on outside of basin; two with mitres, one with biretta, and one with some sort of coif(?). On one face of the basin is “ORATE THOMA DOVILLE VIACRIO DE MAYNE R. F. S. 1636”. The basin rests on an octagonal pillar, which stands on a square pedestal’ (Anon. 1901, 120).

Cross-reference with WM003-083001-

To see a 3D model of the font visit https://skfb.ly/oF7Oz

Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 14 March 2023

References

Roe, H.M. 1968 Medieval fonts of Meath. Meath Archaeological and Historical Society.

Anon. 1901 Mayne Parish and Church. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland 5, 119-20.