Chilling in the sun

As part of an extremely relaxing week off, we fitted in some visits to some old favourites and a few new delights. First up was nearby Lullington, of beakhead fame. The church is kept locked (as are many we have come across in Somerset) and so to save a wasted trip I went to get the key from a nearby house. The man who came out, lovely barking dog in tow, reminded me of the man with the dog from Detectorists. The church key was pleasingly huge and opened the door to some wonderful gems inside. The cool interior was a welcome change from the burning sun that we have been having for so long now.

 Lullington's font is elaborately decorated with some nice arches, flower shapes and faces. More unusually it has writing around it and on the top. There are some pleasing capitals above the columns, with patterns, faces and creatures, including a very fetching pair of birds who reminded me of dinosaurs because they had scaly tails. Some relaxing drawing was enjoyed.


The beakheads were baking in the sunshine and I had forgotten that they are less well defined than many we have seen. Unfortunately they have been more exposed to the elements. But each creature has appeal and there is an amusing variety of creatures and faces.

At the end of the week, a return trip to the idyllic spot of Little Langford beckoned, and luckily there was a triangle of shade in which to stand to draw the marvellous tympanum. I checked the visitors' book and it was a surprising 4 years since we first visited. My sister did an impressive drawing of the hounds beneath the main picture and I tried to draw the man and the birds. The font there, although simple, is pleasingly wonky and as such definitely Norman.

After a rather hot and slow trip through Salisbury we found Pitton. Here the font had a deceptively simple band around it, which on closer observation was not quite as simplistic as you might first think. The chevron pattern reminded me of plaited material or two lines of bread dough wrapped over each other - the carver had smoothed off each separate shape and the overall effect was of plump material or something soft. All such designs would transfer nicely to another medium such as fabric. It is time to get on with something artistic and create something using these carvings as inspiration.

It was too hot to drive looking for other places so we came back via Wood Henge, a very interesting and atmospheric spot, marred slightly by the couple who chose to set up their deckchairs and have a drink at the far side of it, as if it were a picnic area. Very odd. Perhaps the heat was getting to them. Luckily we did not wander around Amesbury (having seen recent news) and actually went past the mysterious Porton Down and Boscombe Down (no photos allowed) on the way back through the weirdness of Wiltshire.

Avington, Berkshire

Despite the silence from "The Time is Now" we have actually been fonting, as we call it, and discovering new delights. However, winter days and lack of light and heat have reduced the opportunities over the first months of the year. So with the return of spring and the arrival of summer, we can get out and about again to find new carvings.

As a special treat we went all the way to the Berkshire border yesterday, bathed in glorious sunshine the whole way. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The reason for this quest - "double beakheads" in the hamlet of Avington, near Hungerford. After driving through the lovely Marlborough, and skirting the equally attractive Hungerford, we turned off the road down to Avington. It soon became one of those adventures where nothing seems straightforward. It was a leafy avenue down to four houses and a gate marked "private", with further buildings beyond. But no sign of a church. After parking up and refuelling, and a bit of investigation on google, we realised the church was just a stone's throw away. And with everyone possibly indoors watching the royal wedding, it was the perfect time to wander down and hope no one interrupted.

Sure enough there was a pedestrian gate too and then a handy "to the church" sign, and there was the church itself, so with renewed enthusiasm, we set off past some hot sheep and lambs and through the long grass to the church. A cuckoo accompanied us from a nearby tree.

It looked like the sort of place no one ever goes and I confess I was fully prepared for the door to be bolted and our endeavours to be in vain. But thank god (not literally) the door was open and we stepped in to see a really unusual and marvellously carved font. There were many panels all round it with figures carved in detail. One looked like a Roman soldier (just my interpretation), one was whispering to another, and all had clothes with a ribbed pattern, some had fabulous fingers and hands, and some feet that hung down below their robes like those of other figures we have seen.

The church was plain and simple but with a large almost square chancel arch. Only when we got closer to it did we see that the detail carved above was none other than a large collection of beakheads! Inside a church! This is unique in our travels. And stepping through archway, turning back round to our amazement we found a second archway of beakheads on the other side! These were different in nature to the first arch. The first one were most unusual in that they had dragon-like faces, with the large noses and wrinkled snout. They also had big tongues sticking out. The ones on the second side were more bird like, but they all had noses too - the small nostrils that you might draw on a bird's beak. 

As if that wasn't enough, there were the remnants of more arches that would have perhaps formed a vaulted roof cross, with beakheads on! Imagine.

At the back of the church in the corners were an amusing cow-like face, and a grinning Cheshire cat like face.

Enough excitement for any fonting enthusiasts.

On the way back it was also heartening to find none other than a delicious vegan swedish glace ice cream in the freezer of a local shop. It was a tiny shop in a small village! So the spread of veganism is growing ever faster. It tasted just as good as any ice cream and you would not know the difference.

Kilpeck

It is no surprise that we have long wanted to make a pilgrimage to Kilpeck to see the cornucopia of delights there; so as a Christmas present to ourselves, we made a small detour en route home for Christmas, to the famous village.

It was one of those bright winter days where the sun is low and the light is golden. With my finger glued to the map as we headed towards our destination, I remarked that the light would be perfect for picking out the carvings. As we were musing on this, I pointed out a sudden pocket of low-lying mist, hanging in a valley over to the left. "By the way, where is it we're going?" my sister asked. "Over there," I replied, pointing at the mist. It was too strange. And rather disappointing! We had no hope of seeing anything if the wonders of Kilpeck were shrouded in fog. As we crept forward through the blanket of white, we got to a crossroads. "Where do you think it is?" my sister asked. All of a sudden, the outline of a church tower rose out of the mist straight ahead of us. It couldn't have been more like a film. Was it the mystic creatures of Kilpeck keeping themselves hidden?

Kilpeck has so much to enjoy - and is so well preserved. The stone looks red and softer than some, but the carvings are in excellent condition, both inside and out. We went inside first - there are very unsual carvings on each side of the arch, three figures each side. The entrance into the church is amazing. A whole host of wonderfully comic beakheads, some most unusual, flanked by another arch of eyes and designs very like those in Stottesdon. The columns either side of the door are also very well preserved, all of it seems like it could have been carved last century. They are not like any I remember, but have a complicated design of interlacing foliage, figures and creatures.

The corbels are amazing. They go all around the church, not a space is left - although a couple are missing. The creatures are most amusing and full of character, who could fail to love them. The hare and hound pairing looks so modern.
 Rams, pigs, horses, people.  The back of the church looks out across the graveyard and across a field. A large tree was rising out of the mist that hung low over the fields. It all looked quite mysterious.

Others came to visit, one over-confident man striding around with his girlfriend, lecturing her in a boring manner and saying "there's nothing interesting inside". Hopefully she would make up her own mind.

The mist began to clear and the sun lit up the corbels in gold. As we got ready to leave, a few beams of golden light shone through the yews in shafts.