Font, Baile An Chnocáin, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Religious Objects

Font, Baile An Chnocáin, Co. Kerry

Inside the church of Kilgobban, a short walk from the southern shore of Tralee Bay, there sits an oval limestone font carrying a single line of carved text: W COLLIS RECTOR 1729.

Baptismal fonts are common enough in Irish churches, but this one carries the unusual distinction of being personally inscribed with a rector's name and year, turning a liturgical object into something closer to a signed commission.

The church, known in Irish as Cill Gobáin, is dedicated to Saint Gobán, and its graveyard lies alongside it roughly 125 metres from the water's edge. The 1729 inscription connects the font to one W. Collis, who held the position of rector at the time. The name Collis appears in the Church of Ireland tradition in Munster during this period, and the date places the font firmly in the early eighteenth century, a time when the established church was consolidating its parish infrastructure across Kerry. Limestone was the practical and widely available choice for such carvings along the Dingle Peninsula, and the oval form was a standard shape for fonts of the period, designed to hold water for the sacrament of baptism.

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