Carved creatures, South Gloucestershire

South Cerney door

The list of places to visit to see carvings, in particular carved creatures, is increasing weekly. My sister has now been through a book about Gloucestershire and we have marked churches of interest on the Gloucestershire map. Enticingly, there were many which we gave the highest ranking, based on the fact they had very unusual things there or many different things in the same church. It was too tempting to take a longer trip than usual, heading off on a sunny day to villages south of Cirencester.  There was a whole cluster of churches in a small area, all with our top ranking.

Our trips are so that we can have fun drawing. I have a new sketchbook, which is larger and allows me to draw more freely. Armed with our usual snacks, three-coloured crayons, ink and watercolour, we set off to discover yet more Norman and Saxon inspiration.

Saxon door, inside

outside

We stopped off first at Somerford Keynes, where the church has an original Saxon doorway possibly dating from the 8th century. It is not every day you see something from around 700AD, and this doorway was a real treasure. I did not know what to expect, but as you came in through the front door, (an old wooden door with a fabulous opening mechanism), the Saxon door was just to the left on the facing wall. In Saxon style it was tall and narrow. A member of the parish had been good enough to pay for its preservation; it was open to the outside, rather than blocked in, with a very tasteful panel of engraved glass across the space. It let in the light to the church and made a real feature of the Saxon door. Full marks to whoever designed this. Outside, you had a real sense of the history and atmosphere of the doorway, and could easily imagine Saxon people using it to go into their church.  It had 2 rope-like motifs over the top, and was beautiful in its simplicity.  Inside the church, we were disgusted to read that a fragment of Saxon stone carving had been stolen a couple of years before.

beaky creatures

Further north we stopped at South Cerney. From the book, we were expecting to see "beakheads" or as we call them "beaky creatures" - a feature of Norman doors that can be found in this area. Previous beakheads we have seen are of creatures' faces over the archway of a door, some of them gripping the archway in their beaks or mouths. We approached the church and were both very excited by what we saw. There were many beaky creatures gripping the archway, plus some beautiful carvings above the door posts and forming the archway. The whole doorway was very ornate and must have taken ages. You didn't know where to look, or what to draw first, such was the detail.Inside there were some Saxon crosses, later carvings and a resin copy of a wooden head and foot from a rare 12C crucifix.

It wasn't far to the next village, Ampney St Mary, but finding the church proved a little more difficult. It was not actually in the village, but a small distance away, on the main road. It turned out the original village had been evacuated due to the Black Death and since then the new village had grown up further away from the church. This church has a carving over a now blocked up doorway, which is very unusual and appealing. It has a long-bodied, skinny lion, with long legs, stretched over two faces that look almost cat-like, but are attached to long, almost crescent shaped bodies - who knows what they really are (some suggest a serpent

Ampney St Mary

but I am not convinced). Next to them is a creature with a bird's head, four legs and a long forked tail. (Both this tail and the lion's tail curl up over the bodies). The inside of the church was equally pleasing and there is a nice atmosphere: all over the walls are the remains of some medieval murals, which must have been very impressive in their day. There is another ancient wooden door and a simple and sturdy Norman font with a zigzag design. If you venture up towards the altar, you will see a stone screen and suddenly notice that one side of the church is leaning outwards at an alarming angle, which is a shame.

On the route back, we passed Harnhill, so we had to call in and see St Michael fighting a dragon, over the doorway. It was a little green, but the actual carving was charming and very bold. The dragon had its tongue out and was a really nice shape; I also liked St Michael's clothes, and noticed he too had wings...

St Michael and dragon, Harnhill

At our last stop, Siddington, we were disappointed to find the church padlocked at the gate. I find it hard to believe this is necessary in these small places. It prevented us from seeing the Norman font which sounded like it had impressive decoration. However, we could peak through the netting across the doorway to look at yet more beaky creatures - these however, did not somehow hold the same appeal as those at South Cerney. We thought maybe it was because they seemed more uniform, more flatter, and also looked newer - although I believe were also Norman. An interesting and unusual thing to note about them is how one beakhead had two arms, each reaching out to its neighbour and holding their beaks shut! The beak of the creature on the left was even pulled slightly towards the hand.