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.

Avebury and Winterbourne Monkton

With the pressures of modern life keeping our brains in a whirr (I have been forgetting to do the meditation you can tell), admittedly not the pressures of being down a mine a hundred years ago, but relief is still found in the soothing pleasures of a trip out fonting.  As it had been some time, (although a whole trip to Bristol needs updating on here), it was nice to get out, sit down and take up a pen. (My new pens. More on them later).

We travelled a by now familiar route out towards Devizes, through the weird hills and villages of Wiltshire.  Then further on to Avebury, home of the Stones.  It always strikes me as strange how many other people wake up and have exactly the same thought as we did, to go and visit them on that very day. (Although they had not had the same thought about visiting the font). However it wasn't heaving, and there were large enough spaces between other visitors not to feel like we were at Stonehenge or something.  As I had forgotten the tea flask we used it as an excuse to have a cream tea at the cafe, which was very nice.  Then we had a wander around the Stones, which are remarkably large, solid and smooth in places, and you have to wonder what it was all about. Even though we were walking round them in a circle, I got a bit disorientated but I enjoyed the calm feeling and seeing the sheep grazing in the middle.


Our main objective was of course to see the font in the local church, which has a fair few more visitors than your average village church. Most people just glanced at the font, if they noticed it at all, even though we were both sitting attempting to draw the detailed and swirling design on it, that is worn with time. The main features are two dragony/wyverny creatures with what I think were unusual amounts of detail, in the patterning down their sides. Very pleasing. I was drawing one with a particularly delightfully curving tail.  There was also a human figure, face bizarrely obliterated by a metallic thing, perhaps part of an old lock.  Above the figures were swirls reminiscent of several places, I shall have to look up - and below, an interlinking archways/pillars design very reminiscent of Durnford font.  I am sure with our extensive knowledge now, we should write a book making observations, as we have been able to see many links and similar designs throughout our travels that other people (the handful who also have this obsession) may not have seen.

We decided to squeeze in another font, just up the road in the next village, Winterbourne Monkton. My sister has visited both before as I remember seeing her previous drawings, but it is always nice to re-visit. And for me they were both new. We really were out in the middle of nowhere, or so it felt, and there were butterflies joining us as we had our picnic lunch.  This font was another elaborately carved and very striking design, which carried traces of paint from years ago, including blue and red. Then it seemed only too fitting that I used my new colour pens in their fancy case, which are fine-tipped. I am quite pleased with my drawing as I depicted different areas of the design in different colours. The bold zig-zag band that forms the main part had traces of blue on it. There is a human-oid figure with splayed out legs and arms, possibly other bits, or is this part of the whirly flower design that fits neatly above and below the zigzags. I think it was put there because if you imagine it removed, the zigzag design would not meet up neatly - you can imagine, can't you, the carver getting round to the end of the pattern and realising it was not really going to work out. A bit like the strikingly free-hand looping patterns at Hinton Parva.  I was not good at depicting the deep cut trumpet design below the zigzags, something my sister did with much more 3D success.

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.