At the heart of this Victorian church stands a 17th century marble font, rising 1.16 metres high with an elegance that speaks to its considerable age. The octagonal shaft transitions to a squared surface bearing an inscription carved in false relief: EX: DONO R:A 1681, marking it as a gift from someone whose initials have outlasted their full name. Below this dedication, a quartered coat of arms adds another layer of mystery to the font’s origins.

The craftsmanship of this ecclesiastical treasure reveals itself in the details; its square base features four raised bosses at the corners of an octagonally chamfered upper surface, whilst the bowl itself boasts sixteen sides with a gracefully tapering base. This font originally belonged to Carrickart’s first church, which according to local records was constructed around 1674 or 1675. That earlier church has long since vanished, its site now incorporated into the graveyard that surrounds the current building, leaving only this beautifully carved font as a tangible link to the area’s earliest Protestant worship.

The survival of this font through centuries of change makes it a particularly significant artefact for understanding religious continuity in rural Donegal. Whilst the original church may have disappeared, this marble vessel continues its sacred purpose, having baptised countless generations of local families. Its presence in the 1895 church creates a fascinating timeline of worship at Carrickart, where Victorian Gothic Revival architecture frames a piece of Stuart era craftsmanship, bridging more than three centuries of Irish Protestant heritage in one peaceful corner of northwest Ireland.