At the western end of a church in Brannockstown, County Kildare, sits a granite font that is quietly odd in its design. Rather than the more familiar bowl or chalice shape, this one is rectangular, cut from solid granite, and features a central perforation through the stone along with two shallow depressions on its upper surface that would once have accepted covers. It is the kind of object that rewards a second look, because nothing about it is quite what you might expect from a baptismal font.

Fonts of this general type, used for the liturgical rite of baptism, were common features of medieval parish churches across Ireland, though the precise form varied considerably by region and period. This particular example is thought to date from the 13th or 14th century, placing its origins somewhere in the later medieval period when the parish church system was becoming more firmly established across the country. The use of granite, a hard-wearing and locally available stone, was practical as much as aesthetic, and the rectangular form with its twin cover depressions suggests a degree of deliberate craft rather than purely functional cutting. The two depressions imply the font was designed to be kept covered, perhaps with wooden or stone lids, which was standard practice to protect the consecrated water held inside.