What is recorded here

St James’ church in County Meath keeps an octagonal limestone font whose sharp saw cuts suggest an 18th or 19th century origin rather than ancient mystery. Cogan recorded another font in the adjacent graveyard during the 1860s, but that vessel has vanished, leaving the church font as the visible successor to a lost baptismal practice. The missing stone may have been broken, buried or carried away, yet the present basin still holds water for children named inside the same walls.

Cogan (1862-70, 1, 163) noted a font in the graveyard (ME029-023012-) of St James' church (ME029-023003-) that is no longer present, but the font now in the church appears to be modern. It is an octagonal limestone font (ext. dim. 0.58m; H 0.41m) with a circular basin (int. diam. 0.47m; D 0.25m) and stands on an octagonal shaft and base, but all the stone has been cut with a saw and is likely to be 18th or 19th century in date. (Roe 1968, 109) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 2 January, 2015

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