An unusual miniature font at Penrhys

The shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys originated in a grange of Llantarnam Abbey. The statue of the Virgin and Child attracted
pilgrims from all over south Wales and even further afield. The shrine was dismantled at the Reformation and little remains of its archaeology. During building work in the 1960s, a miniature font was found on the site. It may date from the nineteenth century, when miniature fonts were popular; it could be late medieval; it could even reflect recusant activity at the shrine in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries.