Baptismal Font - Christ Church - Laxey, Isle of Man
Posted by: 
Mike_bjm
N 54° 13.895 W 004° 24.305
30U E 408412 N 6010199
This stone baptismal font can be found in Christ Church in Laxey.
Waymark Code: WMZV6A
Location: Isle of Man
Date Posted: 01/07/2019
Views: 1
This stone baptismal font can be found in Christ Church in Laxey.
Christ Church was consecrated in 1856 for the local Lead miners to worship in. It was built to a design by Ewan Christian and construction costs of £950 were paid for by the Mining Company.
"This Chapel-of-ease has a simple interior with exposed timber roof and geometric and pleasung diagonal-paned stained glass...The style is a stripped down Gothic with narrow lancet windows in the early English style. The steep pitch of the roof is characteristic of Ewan Christian's work from this period. It was built to accomodate the rapidly increasing population of Laxey during the height of the mining activity, as the parish church was some distance away."
Source: An Introduction to the Architecture of the Isle of Man by Patricia Tutt (ISBN 978-1-907945-10-6)
The Church has retained is special historic character although it has undergone major improvement works to provide modern toilet facilities, wheelchair friendly access and a space for providing refreshment.
The font is hexagonal in shape on a hexagonal pillar and base. Each of the sides is simply decorated with an inset 'quaterfoil' (a common feature of Gothic arhitecture) and the pillar has inset panels with an interesting ‘foot arrangement’; to provide extra stability where the pillar meets the base.
"A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional Christian symbolism. The word quatrefoil means "four leaves", from Latin quattuor, four, plus folium, a leaf, referring specifically to a four-leafed clover, but applies in general to four-lobed shapes in various contexts. (
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Interestingly unlike most of the baptismal church fonts on the Isle of Man this example does not have any cover. Whether this has been lost or accidentally destroyed can only be speculated on.