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.

Deerhurst and Upleadon

Once in a while we are on route somewhere other than a church and are tempted to squeeze some fonting into the journey. Well if we are passing near to a known site, it seems silly not to visit. Happily the Blue Book makes it easy to find somewhere not ludicrously off course.

One such stop-off was the village of Deerhurst. Luckily for us, it was well signposted as in addition to the village church and the delights therein, it has an extra building of Saxon origin, Odda's Chapel, now cared for by English Heritage. This was apparently built by Earl Odda for his brother Aelfric. Strangely someone had incorporated a farmhouse into one end in Tudor times, which looked rather odd. But the building itself held less interest for me than the contents of the nearby church, St Mary's. The existence of a second Saxon building is quite unusual. So it was not surprising that both are clearly signposted, which saved us our usual trick of hunting down every side road. In fact the church had no end of signs, with one taking us all the way round the building to the "angel" high up on the back wall, another pointing to the toilets (a rare and welcome facility for the travelling fonter) and even an array of labels inside the WC in case you weren't sure how to identify a hand dryer. But it was a joy to see that someone evidently welcomed and expected visitors.

Inside the church (diligently being cleaned by someone) we were greeted with a wonderful sight. You may think you have seen something already when you have seen a photograph, but it does not beat seeing it for real. Deerhurst's font is one of very few surviving Anglo Saxon fonts... if indeed there are any. We bought a pamphlet (one of many) on the Anglo Saxon features of the church and it suggested that Deerhurst is the best example, if it is indeed a font, which the author thought it was. It seems to fit the dimensions of the fonts we have seen, and the base, if it is the original base for a font, has the same intricate spiral/scroll pattern which decorates the top bowl. It is an elaborate pattern which suggests that it must have been an important place to have such a lovely font. We sat ready to draw. R went to look for lights to that area of the church. To my sheer amazement, sensitively done floor lights came on all around the base of the font and lit it up so you could best appreciate the carving. I have never seen a font so well appreciated and cared for by its parish and being as fond as I am of them, it felt like the pinnacle of font appreciation - if only every beautiful font could be appreciated and valued in this way. Some cost and consideration had gone into presenting this font and it is so nice to know it will be looked after.  Unlike in times gone by when it was found being used as a drinking vessel in a farmyard and rescued by a bishop.

Drawing the pattern proved more difficult. We would have needed a lot more time than we had to make any decent attempt and mine was more of a rough representation. It turned out that the swirls were quite complicated and not all the same and it made your eyes go funny looking at them for too long.

The church also has beast heads, two wonderful ones by the main door, with fangs, pointy ears and a prominent snout, not so much dragons but a cross between wolves and something else, and two at the back of the church, which according to the pamphlet, could have been adorned with paint and jewels for eyes in their time, one of which looked like a hippo to me.

Upleadon
Upleadon is not far from Deerhurst and provided a good stop-off point on our return journey. However, it was not so well signposted, as usual, so we found ourselves in familiar territory driving into the village and then having to go back on ourselves, ask a stranger and then keep our eyes peeled. It was a little way out of the main village next to a large house and farm. It is very unusual with a tower of brick and timber. This one boasts a rather fine tympanum over the main door, with nothing less than a Lamb of God, complete with jaunty foot, and flanked by two "lion-like" creatures, with the requisite tails curling up under their bodies. It was not unlike the design at Pen Selwood, a thought we both had, cheeringly - we are now a walking resource on these things.  I loved it - it had a pleasing simplicity but with some unusual details such as the rather attractive circle around the lamb, which was a plain and a beaded band intertwined. As I drew it, mine seemed to go a bit haphazard and I think the carver found the same difficulty.  The animals had rather humanoid features.

There was another creature on the left hand capital of the door, with an interesting tail, and a design on the right hand one.

It may have been out of the way and harder to find than Deerhurst but it was equally pleasing and quite a peaceful spot.