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.

  

Teffont Magna, Stapleford and Codford St Peter (and Britford)

We had one day before I headed off to sunnier climes and so it was with some feeling of urgency that we set off to squeeze in some last minute drawing and visiting. Well, you have to take the opportunities. First stop was another of seemingly countless delightful "English" villages that I thought only existed in Midsomer Murders, one Teffont Magna, off the beaten track in Wiltshire. Inside a simple church building was some Saxon knotwork, set firmly into the wall, thankfully. There was a hole in one part of it, not sure why, and a complicated knotwork pattern. It is absorbing to set about trying to draw the interlacing lines and invariably I go wrong, but it's not really a problem; it's my interpretation. Some of it was quite worn so that part always needs a little imagination, unless you can see that the pattern was repeating and try to recreate it.

If my memory serves me correctly we went on to Britford near Salisbury next. And ended up wishing we had never been. In fact the less said about it the better, but there were some fabulous examples of knotwork there and other patterns. They were sort of hidden in a corner in the dankest, darkest, vilest smelling place I have ever been. It was not, I don't think, just damp. It felt wrong in there. Just a weird, unwelcoming feeling. It was dark: we searched on every wall for light switches, but there were none. There were high pews on the side: I peeked in gingerly and then ran away as there were strange jars all along them. I can't explain it but neither of us felt right and we simply had the strongest urge to leave. It wasn't the baby's grave in the graveyard, it wasn't just the smell, there was something not conducive to staying and certainly not to drawing. Both of us were disappointed because the carvings were fine examples, but I could not even bring myself to keep my photos of them and we spent the rest of the trip trying to rid ourselves of the taste/smell and put it out of our minds. At Stapleford we tried to focus on what was there to get back into the groove - a sweet little church with some rather amusing faces on the inside columns. I tried to draw them but my heart wasn't in it.

Things improved measurably when we decided to stop at Codford St Peter as our final stop - we have been before but not done drawing. It has a truly wonderful Saxon carving of a figure, who looks like he is dancing and holding a branch. It is done in beautiful detail and I love how light of foot he is! It seems like something that might be celebrating fertility or the harvest, with the branch. On each side of it is more carving and we have long laughed at something that described it as having "dace" and "an otter" when proper (and even brief) examination will tell you there is no fish nor otter anywhere! I thought my imagination saw things that were unlikely but really, there is nothing shaped like either creature. Codford St Peter is a calm and restful place to draw and I enjoyed having a go at drawing the carving and also the rather charming font.