Font in Killulagh,williamstown (rochford)

Medieval parish church dedicated to St. Lonán whose feast day fell on the 12th of November (Ó Riain 2011, 403). The medieval parish church and graveyard may have been built on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St. Lonán. Only the ivy-covered SW gable of the medieval parish church of Killulagh (WM013-057----) stands in the SW quadrant of an oval-shaped graveyard (WM013-057001-) which is entered through a gateway and stone stile at SW. A section of the octagonal shaft which supported the medieval font (WM013-057003-) and bullaun stone (WM013-057004-) are located just inside the graveyard gateway and stile on the N side. The octagonal shaped shaft with central drain hole supported the octagonal shape bowl of the font. The bowl of the medieval font has been removed from the graveyard and now lies in the grounds of St. John the Baptist's R.C. Church located 240m to the SSE. The font lies to the E of the E gable of the 19th century church and rests on a cut stone of post-1700 date with water stoup of uncertain antiquity lying beside the font. A section of the octagonal shaped shaft (H 0.28m x Wth 0.11m) with central drainage hole (diam. 0.07m) stands on a later column immediately inside the gateway of Killulagh graveyard. The octagonal shaped vessel (H 0.4m; ext. diam. 0.6m; T 0.08m) located E of the E gable of the 19th century R.C. church consists of a circular-shaped basin (diam. 0.46m; D 0.21m; T 0.08m) with a central drain hole (diam. 0.1-0.06m). The underside of the font is chamfered and decorated with four bull nosed chamfer stops. The flat square shaped panels (H 0.23m) are dressed with a similar tooling pattern to the octagonal shaft in Killulagh graveyard. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 6 April 2018

The font in Killulagh, Williamstown (Rochford) was likely built during the medieval period, associated with the parish church dedicated to St. Lonán. Its construction reflects the continuity of Christian worship on a site that may have originally been an early Christian monastery.