http://***280.imageshack.us/my.php?image=basin13rd.jpg

http://***347.imageshack.us/my.php?image=basin20lc.jpg

Please Could Someone Tell Me What The Above Pictures Are Showing and Also The Text Pictured.

Sorry, neither of those links seems to work - I got a "page cannot be displayed" message in both cases. Try again!

Substitute *** with i m g (without the spaces) to see the trough.

There appears to be a small hole in the left-hand side of the trough. I wonder if it's a water cistern?

Difficult to say stone trough's like this first appeared in Britain during the Roman period and have continued through to pretty modern times.

The writing on it tends to suggest that this is a water trough for public use. Is it in English?

The writing looks very ecclesiastical, methinks.

I agree, but I have seen similar on later water trough's - typically those donated to the the people.

I notice the Roman troughs appear to have square holes rather than round ones.

really fascinating - we can rule out roman? i think the clue lies in the style of the lettering which is a bit Gothic? GOt to be medieval? says he a medieval enthusiast. if we could have better close ups of the letter etc. there must a website or university library with an archive on stonemasons cut lettering etc. its the stone equivalent of typeset!
are you sure its water feature? it looks a bit grave like or at least a memorial to someone who has died? but then again i could be totally wrong. fascinating.

Looks a bit Victorian gothic to me - reminds me of the Houses of Parliament and similar work by Pugin. But I can't read it - I'd have expected it to be in either English or Latin, and it doesn't look like either.

Have you got a clearer picture of some more of the text lechef?

A more panoramic view of the trough could be more helpful, also some kind of indication of scale would be handy, lechef

with regard to water feature the dimensions are about 900 x 1200 and infact it is in north west France Brittany Ie Chef

No wonder you couldn't read it, Ooban

That opens a few more possibilities as to the language on the trough.

Hmmm - I've had another look, and I still can't read it. It doesn't look like French, either modern or archaic, both of which I can read (or thought I could! bit rusty on the older stuff as I last did it in the 1970s), or Breton, which I can sort of puzzle my way through as it's related to Welsh.

Getting nowhere fast with this one aren't we?

Thankyou guys for your interest in my query. Next time I am in France I will take some better pictures for your consideration, perhaps you may be able to help me out then. Many thanks. Le chef