Combe St Nicholas, Isle Abbots, Huish Episcopi and West Camel

Heading down in a similar direction to the Dorset day out, we set out to our furthest point, Combe St Nicholas in Somerset, with the intention of heading back and stopping off at various points between here and north of Yeovil.

First stop Combe St Nicholas, which is in rather pleasing, hilly countryside.  The outside doors were ominously shut but luckily for us, none of the churches we visited were closed that day. Once inside the church, we were immediately faced with the creature we had travelled to see.  On the right hand side as you enter the building, what can only be described as a cow type creature looked down at us from atop a column. It was quite chunky with a definite square-faced, cow type mouth and nose, and cowy ears. From its mouth came lines of swirling pattern that looped round and about, ending in a sort of hand shape, or flower.  The carved swirling lines are a familiar design, but never before seen emanating from a cow.

Onwards to Isle Abbots / Isle Abbotts, a village nestled so deeply in the countryside that I thought we would never get there. It was almost Melbury Bubb all over again (minus the rain) as I tried unsuccessfully to figure out which of the tiny white roads (on the road map) we were now on. They never seem to correspond to what is in front of you. My sister did well to spot roadsigns as they were nestled in the growth of summer foliage, and mostly hidden from view. We thought if the Germans had landed there in the war, they would have been completely flummoxed.  Eventually we found it and had our lunch on a handy bench. The tower was huge, as were many in that area - a sign of the wealth, no doubt. Inside a delightful sandy-coloured font, four sides, the one facing us showing a rather curious creature, upside down.

Each side has a different pattern on it, quite worn, but we deciphered some animals and different patterns. I found the upside-down creature fascinating: to me it honestly looked most like a dolphin - an unsual creature for a font design, but not beyond the realms of possibility. If someone had seen one on his travels (we are not that far from water) then he might have wanted to depict it for others. It was upside down, yet none of the other sides were, making me think this was how the person had seen the creature. Perhaps leaping out of the sea. It had the bulbous head of a dolphin, with a beaky nose, and no legs but a streamlined body which ended in a sort of tail. I'm convinced anyway. Either that or it was an alien.  Or a lizard. On the other sides we made out a sort of bird and a rather fetching wyvern, most interestingly shown between/behind a column design - quite an unusual feature to show something behind something else like this.

External factors meant we were glad to reach our third stop, Huish Episcopi - so called, apparently after "hiwisc" (house) in OE, and episcopi - to do with the Bishop of Wells. St Mary's church has a very fine example of a carved door, with the added delight of its reddish brown colour, possibly the result of a fire. The door had very chunky zigzag arches, with interesting designs around the top. There were two tiny creature heads on either side, and some fabulous columns with leaves and patterns at the top. A fine example. I'm glad to say that we no longer attempt madly to draw the whole thing, as was once the case when we began on these quests, but now realise that it is only possible to draw a detail or two.  Inside the church was a rather impressive window, with a lot of angels' wings and striking reds. It reminded me of the windows by Burne Jones in Birmingham cathedral. I didn't say anything at the time but it turns out the window is by Burne Jones. Fancy that!

Moving on from Huish Episcopi, we headed back towards home and decided to squeeze in a trip to

West Camel. This time we knew where it was having been on our last trip but not having had the nerve to interrupt a singing session that was taking place inside. This time however it was open and empty and we were delighted to see not just a lovely font with pleasing archway design, but one of the finest Anglo Saxon carved stones we have had the pleasure to see. This one had pride of place up by the altar, and is nicely secure. It had two sides carved with intricate and still well defined knotwork and interlacing patterns. One side definitely had two snake/dragon heads at the end of the intertwining bits. The other side might have had but the ends were more worn. It is definitely one of the best preserved pieces we have come across. And impossible to know where to begin to draw. Especially at the end of the day when we were tired. But I did an "impression" of it which was really a cop out, but it might be fun to try and do some artwork from the photos. I pondered on how they would have done the original - you would have to have had a sketch as you could easily go wrong with the under/over alternation between the patterns.

  

Dorset way

Stoke sub Hamdon

Each county appears to have its own unique feel and mysterious qualities. We all know Wiltshire is weird, as it has Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury hill etc and the form of the hills often makes it feel enclosed and slightly mysterious ...but Somerset has a different feeling again and so does Dorset. It was almost as if when we crossed the border the atmosphere changed, but perhaps I am getting too in tune with the land and picking up echoes from times gone past... Certainly Dorset, with its pleasant countryside (sadly bathed in misty cloud for half the day) was rich in top quality romanesque delights.

Navigating from the road map, your favourite navigator made her usual useless effort of "oh yes we should have turned there" as the car sailed past its turning.  Our first stop, once we found it, was St Andrew's Church in Todber, an unusual building, which was supposed to have some Saxon carving outside. Alas, said carving was no longer outside and the church was shut, so we returned through the drizzle and dripping trees to the car.  Next stop, Melbury Bubb. A small distance away but not on any direct main road. We decided to "take the cross country route".   I don't know why as I didn't have an OS map and couldn't see the best way to go, even while I was giving directions. The small white roads got even smaller on the map and even less road-like in reality.  Luckily for me I am always driven with skill and care around the English countryside and just kept the map out of sight so that the ludicrousness of our route couldn't be seen.  Eventually, having been down the tiniest and most hidden of Dorset's backroads, including via a diversion, we found Melbury Bubb (to our great relief). Most of the names around there are equally as remarkable - Piddletrenthide, Glanvilles Wootton and Huish Episcopi. Of all things.

Melbury Bubb church was, thankfully, open. A man was inside the door and evidently slightly surprised to see us. "Are you researchers?" he asked us. Well, yes, we are! Never thought of ourselves like this before but in fact that is exactly what we are and it felt good to be recognised as such! The church is apparently "always open" and no wonder - inside the door is the most amazing font ever! It was made into a font out of an existing carving and so the scene is upside down. Someone has done a drawing of it so you can see what is on there. But in fact it is not hard to see (when you have your head the wrong way round). Around the sides are a menagerie of creatures -some I swear we have never seen carved before - a stag with impressive antlers, a dog type creature, a horse... and some strange creatures in between, perhaps a lizard, perhaps a sea creature - really quite hard to tell. All with the requisite curved tails tucking up under their bodies - but in fact tails reminding me of Saxon knotwork as well, as they became a long and weaving pattern, looping in and out of themselves. I was musing there must have been a crossover between Saxon and Norman styles and so perhaps this was part of it? Lovely animal feet and the ususal characterful faces, with amusing expressions. These creatures are neither serious, or in my opinion, religious - we were debating whether they were symbolic of something religious. Perhaps. But perhaps not. Although they are not - apart from these ones - usually creatures that would have been around day to day. So here the stag and horse were interesting. But in other places - the creatures you'd expect to see would surely be wolves, badgers, hares, etc? All very interesting to think on.  It helped to draw them upside down as you were forced to draw what you saw and on turning your drawing upside down it was quite fun to see the result. A lovely spot with an absolutely amazing font. Find it if you can.

Moving on (the heavens opened, it was absurd), our next stop was Melbury Osmond. Inside the church set into the wall near the altar was a creature again with winding crossing patterns around it, this time a bit like a dragon? And possible plants?

Final stop on the tour was Stoke sub Hamdon. From the notes in our sacred blue book (I say our, but the book is all my sister's hard work) the church promised many things of great excitement and it was not wrong! I may have been tired but I became quite emotional. The first thing to greet our eye was a truly wonderful tympanum. My sister is so kind, she likes the initial discovery to be a kind of gift and will often let me go first as it were, to get the full impact of the surprise. The tympanum is very well preserved (apart from a small part where we believe someone had tried to chip it away! Poor thing!)  It is spacious and airy, beautifully considered and spaced out, with a Sagitarrius, a tree of life, three gorgeous birds, a wolf/lion and a fabulous, jaunty lamb of God!  Who doesn't love a lamb of God and this one had a real way about it. The birds had a very appealing design, straight backs and all seen from different angles. They reminded both of us at once of the ones in Little Langford. Ah, we are fonts of all knowledge now (pun intended).  The other creature was possibly a lion (as in Leo) or possibly a wolf - it had a woolly neck so the lion theory fits. But whatever, it was all very nicely done and fun to draw.

That was me drawn out really, so I just had to admire the other treats inside  - the chunkiest font you ever saw with a double band of carving which meant the rest of it would have had to have been chipped out for a year and a day. The most amazing triple arches inside with different pleasing patterns, all very well preserved. Far too much for one person to take in.  On the outside wall as well there was a super-cute dragon being attacked by some stupid person (why did people treat dragons so badly?) with not just a spear but a lance as well.  I loved its curving body and amusing expression. They really knew how to draw character.

I believe Dorset could be a great place to spend more time fonting, it had a nice feel, it certainly had many hidden wonders and it is not too far to go. We have been enjoying a wealth of fonting opportunities recently so long may the good weather continue.

Rediscovery

The Time is Now revisited one of the churches we visited when we were first discovering fonting and its delights. My sister thought that maybe we had not fully appreciated the carving when we visited the first time. I was sceptical but we are both aware of what we are now calling "the Pipe Aston effect" - referring to the first time I was taken to see amazing carving at Pipe Aston but didn't appreciate it one tiny bit. I think I looked, said it was ok, and wandered off somewhere. I had no recollection of it afterwards and certainly hadn't been blown away. But then I didn't realise what I was looking at or really see it. Probably too busy looking at my phone or something.

Anyway sure enough it was true when we went to rediscover this church that the carving inside was truly something special - a brilliant dragon's head and a separate piece with a most unusual design - a beaky creature, but gripping not a door, but a swirling pattern design, reminiscent of Saxon knotwork. A true gem! Both had real character and were true gems and I found it hard to believe we had seen them before but truly appreciated them. There was a third item, part of a tympanum, that although more worn, was equally impressive.

I must admit that I fell in love a little with the dragon's head, it was larger than most and had such a chirpy expression - almost a light in its large eyes.  Real character.  I didn't quite capture it in my drawing but that's always the way.  That is what I love most about the carvings, specifically the animal carvings - the artist always captures character and there seems to be real humour in them as well.