There are innumerable angels in Norfolk’s medieval churches. The county is known for its angel roofs, mainly carved between 1400 and 1520. They can be easily missed if you don’t look up. There are also angels carved in doorways, on fonts and bench ends. I have used both black and white and colour and sometimes left the same photo there in both. Sometimes the angels portray images of Christ’s passion (as at West Walton and Kings Lynn, St Nicholas). There is a selection below. For more information and superb photos of angel roofs see also Michael Rimmer’s superb book, Angel Roofs of East Anglia: https://www.lutterworth.com/title/angel-roofs-of-east-anglia. For more on Norfolk carving see http://www.mascotmedia.co.uk/books/from-bears-to-bishops.html
Upwell
Wickmere, font
Pulham St Mary
Tilney, All Saints
Salle
Cley
Hardley font
Salle, west door
Trunch
Pulham St Mary
Cley
Happisburgh
Pulham St Mary, porch
Upwell
Gissing
Upwell
Upwell
Colby
Marsham
Baconsthorpe
Cawston
Cawston
Hockwold
Norwich, St Clements
Upwell
Happisburgh
Norwich, St Clements
Trunch
Tilney, All Saints
Hockwold
Kings Lynn, St Nicholas
Hockwold
Tilney, All Saints
West Walton – on the shield Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.
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
I have enjoyed Norfolk churches for years, often stumbling on them on bike rides. Many sit lonely in fields, their villages having moved their focus over the centuries. Some are simple and humble, a few are grand and spectacular, but many reveal secrets forgotten or barely known except to a few experts, or individuals who help maintain them and keep them open.
This exhibition has given me the chance to combine two of my passions – photography and churches. The county has 659 medieval churches with a wealth of history on offer. My focus here is mainly on some of the medieval wood and stone carving, most of it 500 years old or more. I have chosen to represent this work in black and white. It enhances the detail and texture in a graphic and often atmospheric way, revealing the skill and imagination of anonymous craftsmen who present their world to us. There are mythical beasts, green men, wodehouses, animals and the faces of the people themselves – frozen in time, like photographs. Sometimes the carving is highly skilled; sometimes it is crude, basic and yet oddly powerful.
I have included a few colour photos – it’s hard to imagine stained glass without colour – but there was no space for the many rood screens or wall paintings and more general shots of interiors and exteriors. It was hard to make a choice. It was often difficult to take some of the photos in natural light. But just as photography ‘freezes a moment in time’, the carving and stonemasonry of the medieval period are also frozen moments from long ago.
All of these photos are of objects that predate the Reformation. They survived the extraordinary iconoclasm of the reign of Edward VI (1547-53), when stained glass was smashed, wall paintings were whitewashed, rood screens had their faces scratched out, pew ends were vandalised and images were stripped. It is surprising that so much survived.
One of the joys of visiting a church is seeing up to a thousand years of history in one building. There are additions made to churches through the centuries – round towers, perhaps topped centuries later by an octagon, Norman arches, different styles of window, medieval tombs, eighteenth century knights portrayed as Roman senators, Victorian stained glass, twenty first century furniture. Some have children’s play areas, and books for sale and remain centres of the community. More often than not these buildings are open. Some now have a kettle and coffee or tea bags and invite you sit down and drink and reflect. Others may be reached along a track in a field and yet are free and open for what may only be a rare and solitary visitor. Some churches are locked, but usually there is a number to call and that often leads to an interesting conversation with the key holder. Long may these churches, which are both examples of ancient folk art and still places of worship, remain so welcoming.
I have not visited them in any systematic way and can only admire the single mindedness and love shown by my guides to the churches I have visited: Simon Knott’s excellent Norfolk churches website: http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/mainpage.htm with his huge knowledge and finely written personal accounts and Mortlock and Roberts with their detailed, unembellished and thorough outlines. My thanks too to all the people, who have kept these buildings open.
Most of these photos will be in an exhibition at St Peter Hungate Museum of Medieval Art (http://www.hungate.org.uk/). The exhibition will 0pen September 3rd 2016 and end October 30th. The museum is open on Saturdays from 10-4 and Sundays 2-4. all the prints will be for sale. I will post details of the prices nearer the time.
Cley, St Margaret, pew end
Cawston, St Agnes, Piscina, showing wildman and dragon.
Cley, St Margaret, pew end
Great Walsingham, St Peter, pew end
Upper Sheringham, All Saints, pew end
Castle Acre Priory
Norwich, St Peter Hungate
Wiggenhall, St Germans, pew end
North Elmham, St Mary, pew end
Stanfield St Margaret, pew end
Horning St Benedict, jaws of hell
Wickhampton, St Andrew, tomb of Lady Gerbygge (c1280)
Wood Rising, St Nicholas
Old Buckenham, St Peter r., peend (Old Testament prophet?)
East Ruston, St Mary
Haddiscoe, St Mary, font detail
Salle, St Peter and Paul, misericord
Salle, St Peter and Paul, pew end
Salle, St Peter and Paul, West door, angel with censer
Thompson, St Martin, Green man in spandrells of the sedilia
Thurgarton, All Saints, pew end
Trunch, St Botolph, pew end
Wickhampton, St Andrew
Wiggenhall, St Germans, pew end
Weston Longville, All Saints, Green Man in spandrells of sedilia
Paul Harley Photographer 