Aughrim Font.

 

Aughrim baptismal font.

Christy Cunniffe

 

Hunting scene showing archer with bow shooting at a deer.

Christy Cunniffe

This dimenutive baptismal font is preserved in the Clonfert Diocesan Museum in Loughrea. It was originally preserved in the parochial house in Aughrim near Ballinasloe and was presented to the museum by Rev. P.K. Egan. It is described as a ‘small rectangular receptacle or font in limestone, bearing on the front a carving in relief of an archer shooting a deer. … Probably salvaged from the ruins of the priory of St. Catherine nearby’ (Egan 1956-57).  It comprises of a rectangular vessel with a rebate around the rim for a lid and a small drain hole in the centre. It is hard to date but appears high medieval possibly late 13th century.

Ref: Egan, P. K. 1956-57 ‘Clonfert Museum and its Collections’. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. No 37. pp 33-76.