Originally installed in Shanagolden Church some miles to the west in County Limerick, the font now sits quietly in the western porch of St. Mary's Church of Ireland in Askeaton, a compact square of stone that measures barely over thirty centimetres on any side. Its conical basin, less than a quarter of a metre across, would once have held the water used in baptismal rites, the central sacramental function of any parish font. What lifts it above the ordinary is the decoration carved into one of its faces: four square panels arranged in a tracery pattern, each containing a precise eight-pointed star.

The font is medieval in origin and carved from limestone, and whoever made it seems to have had a specific architectural situation in mind. The current thinking is that it was designed to sit into the angle of a wall, with two decorated faces turned outward so that parishioners could see them clearly, the remaining sides tucked away unseen. A closely comparable font exists at Kilcooly Abbey in County Tipperary, suggesting either a shared workshop tradition or a carver whose work circulated across the region. The Shanagolden font was recorded in the nineteenth century by the Cork antiquarian John Windele, whose original drawings were later used by William Frazer for a formal illustration, now held in the National Library of Ireland as part of his sketched record of Irish antiquities.

The font is housed in the western porch of St. Mary's Church of Ireland in Askeaton, which is itself a building of some historic interest in the town. The porch setting means the font is relatively accessible rather than locked away, though visitors should check local opening arrangements before making a specific trip. It rewards a close look: the star motifs are cleanly cut and the geometry of the tracery panels is still sharp despite the stone's age. Given its modest dimensions, it is easy to overlook at a glance, but examined closely it offers a clear sense of the craft that went into even small devotional objects in the medieval parish church.