Norfolk has the greatest concentration of medieval churches in the world – 659 in one county – and this wealth of history is open to everyone. From Bears to Bishops focuses on the medieval wood and stone carving on display in these churches, all of it about 500 years old or more. The size and splendour of the buildings themselves can sometimes distract from the detail revealed in this book.
The book contains 156 high quality black and white photos mainly of oak bench ends but also stone font panels and corbels. ‘Black and white enhances the detail and texture of the wood and stone in a graphic and often atmospheric way,’ says photographer Paul Harley. ‘It helps to reveal the skill and imagination of the anonymous craftsmen who present their world to us. The voices from long ago speak to us still, revealing our terrors, suspicions and desires in lumps of wood and stone.’
Dr Rebecca Pinner of UEA says in her foreword: ‘This is a beautiful, surprising and important volume that will stand for many years to come as a key point of departure for all who want to discover and explore the artistic gems preserved within the treasure hoards of Norfolk’s medieval churches.’
From Bears to Bishops contains a useful index of more than 60 featured churches and an historical essay by the photographer on the development of seating arrangements and carving in churches before the Reformation.
Available from mid September 2018 but you can order now from Mascot Media.
120 pages (220mmx 220mm), softback. ISBN: 978-1-9998457-6-6 UK price: £17.95 Published by Mascot Media Email: info@mascotmedia.co.uk
These photographs are all taken in Norfolk medieval churches and are to the best of my knowledge of medieval carvings. It is a part of my attempt to rationalise my photos of medieval carving in Norfolk. There are scenes from every day life, biblical figures and messages, and green men and angels. More detailed information on the carving can be found in an earlier post
Trunch
Trunch
The peddlar of Swaffham
Swaffham, rosary
North Elmham
North Elmham
North Elmham
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn, St Margaret, green mantt
Kings Lynn, St Margarett
Kings Lynn St Margaret, Bishop Despenser of Norwich
Kings Lynn, St Margaret
Great Massingham
Great Massingham
Norwich St Andrew, misericord
Norwich St Andrew
Norwich St Andrew
Kings Lynn St Margaret.
Forncett St Peter, one of the mercies – praying for the dead
Stokesby
Salle
Wilton. Man doing penance, or looking for his contact lens, or at the end of a bad night.
Wilton, back of shepherd
Wilton, penance? heavy night out?
Wilton, shepherd
Feltwell, one of the mercies – visiting the prisoner
Feltwell, one of the mercies – feeding the hungry
Feltwell, one of the mercies – welcome the stranger
Feltwell, burying the dead
Burnham Deepdale font
Burnham Deepdale font – May, June, July and August
Thornham
Thornham
Grimston, man having his tongue cut out
Wickmere, lute player
Grimston
Cawston
Grimston, green man?
Harpley,
Harpley, happy bishop
Harpley, St James with pilgrim’s staff
Seething font, confirmation?
Seething font, baptism
Taverham. St Edmund
Salle. Censing angel
Castle Rising font
Bressingham
Walpole St Peter
Walpole St Peter
Walpole St Peter
Walpole St Peter
Stalham
Stalham, font (Baptism))
Stalham, font (Holy Trinity)
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin,bench end
West Lynn, bench end
West Lynn, bench end
West Lynn, bench end
West Lynn, bench end
Walpole St Peter, bench end
Walpole St Peter, wolf carrying the head of St Edmund
Tuttington, wild man creeping up on a dragon
Tuttington, green man?
Tuttington, drummer
Tuttington, woman, allowing her basket to be rifled
Tilney All Saints,
Tilney All Saints,
Tilney All Saints, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Weston Longville, All Saints, Green Man in spandrells of sedilia
Wickhampton, St Andrew
Salle, St Peter and Paul, pew end
Salle, St Peter and Paul, misericord
Haddiscoe, St Mary, font detail
Old Buckenham, St Peter r., peend (Old Testament prophet?)
Wood Rising, St Nicholas
Wickhampton, St Andrew, tomb of Lady Gerbygge (c1280)
In the Middle Ages, the main way of portraying Christian beliefs and stories was through imagery. Most people were illiterate but church services were held in Latin. Ideas and beliefs were conveyed in wall paintings, stained glass, rood screens, statues of wood and stone, carvings on the furniture, and on the walls and the exterior. Most of these images were whitewashed or destroyed in the Protestant Reformation, especially as a result of the iconoclasm of Edward VI (1547-53) and then a century later during Civil War. At the same time, English translations took over from Latin bibles and prayer books and beliefs could then be expressed through words that everyone could understand.
Until about 1300, congregations stood or knelt during the Mass. Stone seating in the chancel was out of bounds to all but the priest and his acolytes. The old and infirm could ‘go to the wall,’ against which they might lean, or, in some churches, they might find a stone bench.
In the early fourteenth century, some churches started to introduce seating in the nave, possibly as a result of increasing prosperity. This meant all sorts of activities, including markets, which had formerly taken place in the nave, would need to be moved to a new hall or out to the graveyard. Benches only appeared in significant numbers in churches in the latter half of the fifteenth century, a period of prosperity when many churches were extended or even rebuilt, sometimes on a grand scale. There was no change in ritual practice at this time, which would have lead to a need for benches. However, sermons, which were not universally adopted until the seventeenth century, after the Reformation, were already being preached by wandering friars, and this may have prompted the installation of seating.
Church expert, Simon Knott suggests that the introduction of benches signaled part of a major shift in the English church practice. Following the Black Death, parish churches became less places for private devotion and more the setting for corporate acts of worship. The new wealthy middle class helped to pay for the refurbishment and embellishment of churches and their interiors, for example adding rood screens, stained glass and carved benches. Patronage of the church would ensure that priests and parishioners would pray for the donors’ souls, thereby smoothing a path from purgatory to heaven.
Most Norfolk bench ends date from the second half of the fifteenth century. Many feature a poppy head and a moulded armrest with a carved figure. The term poppy head derives from the French for poupée, which means puppet or figurehead. Many are variations of the fleur-de-lys, a symbol of purity, often associated with the Virgin Mary. Sometimes the outside face of the bench was left plain and sometimes it was carved. In Norfolk, some of the best examples of carved bench ends with carved arm rests and poppy heads can be found at Wiggenhall, St Mary the Virgin, where there is an almost complete set. Most of the photos in this post are of free standing carvings on the armrest.
Misericords
Seats were also installed in medieval choir stalls, found in the chancel of the church. They were hinged so that when they were tipped up they would reveal a carved bracket wide enough to perch on. This bracket is known as a misericord, a name derived from the Latin, misericordia, meaning pity. The original function of the ledge was as a ‘mercy seat’ designed to give comfort to monks, who were expected to stand during eight services a day.
Germany is home to the oldest eleventh century misericords. It is not known when they were introduced to Britain but the earliest remaining examples are from the thirteenth century and can be found in the cathedrals at Durham, Salisbury and Exeter. Misericords were fashioned from a single piece of oak and in Britain have subsidiary carvings known as supporters. Medieval woodcarvers often showed their irreverent humour with witty imagery on the underside of these hinged seats.
Norwich St Andrew, Ape doctor
The Carvers and the iconography
We know very little about the wood carvers, stone carvers and carpenters who made the benches, fonts and corbels in parish churches, although more is known about the misericord makers and masons of some of the great cathedrals. But even here it is not clear if the master carpenters engaged by the great cathedrals actually carved the misericords themselves or left it to their assistants. It is probable that local workshops served local areas. For example, there are clear similarities in style between work found at Blakeney and Cley in Norfolk.
The subject matter for church decoration is varied. Norfolk, for example, has many seven sacrament fonts. Green Men can be found in the spandrels of the sedilia (the stone seats for the priest and his acolytes in the chancel). Bench ends and misericords include scenes from everyday life, sometimes with a moral message. At Grimston, there is man in the stocks. Ordinary people are often portrayed, and in some cases may even have been the donors of the benches. There are scenes of the Corporal Mercies. At Feltwell, for example, three figures bury the dead and a solitary figure welcomes a stranger. Some of the Deadly Sins are portrayed at Wiggenhall St Germain. At Horning the devil pushes an unfortunate sinner into the jaws of hell. At Kings Lynn, St Margaret, a misericord depicts a Green Man representing sin and mortality. Saints feature at Harpley and Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin and angels appear on the font at Haddiscoe. Typical of the area, a sailing boat and a post mill are carved at Thornham and a mermaid at Grimston and Upper Sheringham. There are also many birds, animals and mythological beasts, which can convey various meanings, some of them contradictory. The pelican pecks her own flesh to feed her chicks, representing piety at Walpole St Peter; the monkey represents immoral self indulgence and the salamander at Great Walsingham, by contrast virtue; the owl, possibly wisdom, but perhaps also night, darkness and evil. Most mythological beasts and grotesques were probably intended to ward off evil thoughts.
Thompson, St Martin, Green man in spandrells of the sedilia
Grimston, man in the stocks
Feltwell, burying the dead
Horning St Benedict, jaws of hell
Kings Lynn, St Margaret, green mantt
Harpley, St James with pilgrim’s staff
Haddiscoe, St Mary, font detail
Thornham
Walpole St Peter, the pelican in her pietymisericord
I’m thinking of reorganising the Norfolk carving posts into themes possibly mythical beasts, people and animals, but until I do here are the next set of photos.
Bressingham
Bressingham
Brisley
Castle Rising font
Castle Rising font (cat)
Salle. Censing angel
Taverham. St Edmund
Seething font, baptism
Seething font, confirmation?
Harpley, St James with pilgrim’s staff
Harpley, happy bishop
Harpley,
Harpley, squirrel
Wickmere, lute player
Harpley
Grimston
Grimston mermaid
Cawston
Grimston
Grimston, green man?
Grimston, man having his tongue cut out
Grimston, man in the stocks
Grimston, cockerell
Thornham
Thornham
Burnham Deepdale font – May, June, July and August
Burnham Deepdale font
Feltwell, burying the dead
Feltwell, one of the mercies – welcome the stranger
Feltwell, one of the mercies – feeding the hungry
Feltwell, one of the mercies – visiting the prisoner
Wilton, shepherd
Wilton, dog
Wilton, penance? heavy night out?
Wilton, back of shepherd
Wilton. Man doing penance, or looking for his contact lens, or at the end of a bad night.
Upper Sheringham, cat and mouse
Stokesby
Stokesby, cicatrice
Forncett St Peter, one of the mercies – praying for the dead
Forncett St Peter
Salle
Kings Lynn St Margaret.
Caston, owl
Norwich St Andrew
Norwich St Andrew
Norwich St Andrew, misericord
Norwich St Andrew, Ape doctor
Norwich St Andrew
Frenze, monkey
Salle, monkey
Great Massingham
Great Massingham
Irstead
Irstead, hare
Kings Lynn St Margaret
Kings Lynn St Margaret, Bishop Despenser of Norwich
Kings Lynn, St Margarett
Kings Lynn, St Margaret, green mantt
Kings Lynn, St Margarett
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Kings Lynn St Nicholas
Little Fransham
Little Fransham
Little Fransham
North Elmham
North Elmham, bear
North Elmham, could this be a take on the St Edmund legend (no crown though)?
Most of these photos were taken in the last few months and there is a heavy bias towards the Marshland churches, especially the magnificent Walpole St Peter and Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin, whose set of bench ends is second to none in Norfolk, although I find the latter’s atmosphere lacking compared to my favourite churches, perhaps because it is no longer used. Some of the carving is crude, some has been damaged by the ravages of time or perhaps the iconoclasm of the Reformation, and some is excellent. Most of all these photos provide an insight to the medieval world and imagination.
Bedingham, bench end
Bedingham, bench end 2
Ashmanaugh,
Irstead, bench end
King’s lynn St Margaret, misericord
South Lopham, elephant and castle
South Lopham, bench end
South Lopham, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Thurgarton, bench end
Tilney All Saints, bench end
Tilney All Saints,
Tilney All Saints,
Tuttington, woman, allowing her basket to be rifled
Tuttington,elephant and castle
Tuttington, drummer
Tuttington, green man?
Tuttington, wild man creeping up on a dragon
Tuttington, bench end
Walpole St Peter, wolf carrying the head of St Edmund
Walpole St Peter, bench end
Walpole St Peter,
Walpole St Peter, bench end
Walpole St Peter,
Walpole St Peter, bench end
Walpole St Peter, the pelican in her pietymisericord
Paul Harley Photographer 