What is recorded here

Nested basins cut from rough stone still stand where water once drained through perforated bases into darkness below. The smaller basin fits inside the larger, suggesting a pedestal or hidden receiver now lost. Ballywiheen Church gave up this font before it reached Baile An Fheirtéaraigh, carrying a little of its own ceremony into the change.

This stone font was formerly in Ballywiheen Church (Teampall Bhaile Bhoithín). It consists of a roughly circular, flat-bottomed stone basin with a central perforation in its base. The basin is 0.25m deep and a maximum of 0.25m in diameter internally. A second, roughly circular, flat-bottomed basin, now damaged, is 0.38m in diameter but only 0.8m deep internally. It, too, is perforated through the base and it seems likely that the first basin was intended to sit inside the second basin and that both probably rested on a pedestal. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne (1986), no. 981. Updated by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 10 November 2014

The font was likely built in the early medieval period, associated with the church at Ballywiheen, and reflects a simple, functional design typical of rural Christian worship in Ireland. Its original location within a church suggests its dedication to Christian baptismal practice, though specific builders or dates remain unrecorded.

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