Fonts on the Faith Trail
The churches on the Teifi Faith Trail possess a rich collection of medieval fonts, as well as some fine later examples.
Five of these fonts have been dated to the twelfth century. Of these, the only one which is unornamented is at St Bledrws, Betws Bledrws where there is a small square font with chamfered edges.
Llanfair Clydogau has a circular bowl with roughly carved symbols of the four Evangelists, which have been described as ‘a massively un-angelic face, a raven-like eagle, a goat-like bull and an owl-like lion’.
An exceptional font at St Patrick’s, Pencarreg, has carved mask heads at its four corners, which could represent the four evangelists. Twelve crude, fierce faces are found on the font at St Gwenog, Llanwenog and a medieval stoup is also present in the tower-entrance.
The square font at St Mary’s, Maestir has comparatively refined figures of the Evangelists at each corner. It was originally situated in the earlier church of St Peter’s in Lampeter, and relocated here when the present St Peter’s was erected in about 1870.
The square fonts of St David’s, Llanycrwys and All Saints, Cellan are of uncertain date. The square font at Llanllwni is thirteenth century, while the fourteenth-century font at Tregaron is heptagonal (seven-sided).
Fine examples of Victorian fonts can be found in St David’s Llanddewi Brefi, St Peter’s, Lampeter and St Lucia’s, Llanwnnen, all by the architect R J Withers. The church of St John the Baptist, Ystrad Meurig, has an octagonal font by the Arts and Crafts architect Harold Hughes. The eight sides represent the eight days between Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and The Resurrection.
