Font (present location) in Rathkenny — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Half a metre wide and barely thirty-five centimetres tall, the broken square font still stands in the old Rathkenny graveyard, its chamfered corners catching light like a forgotten room. It may have served the medieval parish church less than half a kilometre away, carrying water for baptism before the newer Roman Catholic church took that role. The basin is damaged, but the circular projection beneath suggests a stem once held it above the ground, placing ordinary ritual at the heart of the site.

A square font (dims 0.5m x 0.5m) with chamfered corners that has a circular projection beneath for the top of a circular stem which was kept at the new Roman Catholic church at Rathkenny is now at the site of the old church and its graveyard. Much of the basin is damaged (surviving H 0.35m). It is thought to have come from a church site in Rathkenny (ME018-003----) c. 900m to the E, but is more likely to have come from the site of the medieval parish church (ME012-041----) c. 440m to the NE. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 5 June, 2014

A square font with chamfered corners, likely of 18th- or 19th-century origin, was originally associated with the old church at Rathkenny and later moved to the site of the new Roman Catholic church; its design reflects traditional ecclesiastical craftsmanship of the period.

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