Medieval Font at Churchtown, Kildare

 Across from the North east border of Laois and lying inside South west Kildare, sandwiched between the River Barrow and the Grand Canal there is a place with a small staggered crossroads called Churchtown.

There's a small old school building here dating from 1840. Next to it is a brightly painted old Green Water Pump.

 

The pump was manufactured by the Jessop Davis foundry at the Saint John's Ironworks in Enniscorthy, Wexford. Jessop Davis were makers of many of the old green Post Boxes still seen dotted about here and there.

I came across a small medieval Church ruin here one day while cycling about. The townland here is called Raheenadeeragh however the area is known as Churchtown.

It is situated in a quiet old graveyard and there is very little that remains of the building.

 It originally dates to the early 1200's according to records but it's also likely that an earlier Church preceded it on the site. The Church was dedicated to Saint Fintan who holds a special place in Laois history, culture and folklore.

There was a  Granite medieval font located here and it has now been placed with great care onto a specially made plinth. It is wonderful to see such care taken over these old antiquities.

Clearly visible are the marks/grooves which once held the hinges of a lid on the font.

 

It would be nice to see Laois County Council allocated greater funding to take better care of the sites, monuments and antiquities under their auspices as has been done here. Far too many relics in Laois have been abandoned and lie buried under vegetation or are vanished or stolen.

There is a metal Cross in the graveyard which was erected by a Thomas Aldridge of New Zealand for his mother. It is the small things like this little detail which show the global interconnections that tie many different countries to this little Island on the western periphery of Europe.

While nothing of large scale is to be found here at Churchtown it's worth stopping by for a few moments if you happen to be passing nearby.

Keep the wheels turning.

Coordinates here :

53°00'33.3"N 7°03'09.0"W

53.009241, -7.052510