Hunting the Green Man, Essex part 3

A beautiful Bank Holiday weekend is the perfect time to go for a drive in the sun. However, a Sunday is probably the worst day to go on the hunt for the Green Man.  Many churches are either in use, or locked tight. I make it a rule never to enter a church if a Service is in progress, out of respect. So it was that I was restricted to church exteriors for this trip, which provided a hit on only one church out of eight visited today.
So which was the lucky winner? Let's get that out of the way first. 
Thaxted, St John the Baptist
  
This church is quite spectacular externally, and is known as the 'Cathedral of Essex'. Every nook and cranny is seemingly filled with carvings of heads, faces, animals and various mythical beasts. There were far too many to count, each pinnacle having at least four faces.
  
Our man was on the west side of the South Porch and was of what I consider to be the 'classical' style, whilst on the north side I spotted at least two club-wielding Wild Woses, one taking pride of place on a pinnacle the North Transept.
  
  
This is a church I shall definitely have to return to in future. Who knows what delights await us inside? Entry to the church is unusually via the North porch, using a 'door within a door'.
Whilst in Thaxted, it would be boorish not to mention some of the other historical delights of the place, which include a Guildhall dating from 1390 (earlier than the church itself), and next to it a cottage where Dick Turpin was reputed to have lived.
  
Thaxted was also home to Gustav Holst, composer of the Planets Suite, and hosts a working windmill. the Thaxted Morrismen are supposedly one of the oldest sides in the country, and feature on the town signs at the North and South approaches to the town. The side were not in evidence during our visit, though there is a Fayre tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday) where they will be dancing out.
Ok, so Thaxted was an interesting stop and worth a visit all by itself, but where else did we go today? A brief list should suffice for our purposes as none of the other churches visited showed any external evidence of the Green Man, which is our main focus here.
Little Chesterford, St Mary the Virgin - there was a sign in the porch listing keyholders, but it was quite an early start for us, far too early to wake a keyholder!

Littlebury, Holy Trinity - this church had some ornate corbel heads on the East end of the church, but they almost looked too unworn to be of any age. The church was locked.

  
Radwinter, St Mary - the Service was just about to commence - bells were calling the parishioners in as I arrived, though I suspect many of them were attending the Boot Fair in nearby fields across the road. The church has an interesting 2 storey South porch, so may be worth a revisit if in the area.
  
Great Sampford, St Michael - a notice stated that the church is 'normally open. Summer 10-4, Winter 10-3'. It was 8:30 in the morning when we got here...

Little Bardfield, St Katharine - a delightful little church, set back from the road, and which was open. No evidence of the Green Man, internally or externally. There was a guide book for sale at £6.50, but a scan through the demo copy suggested this was more about the history of the parish and its people rather than the structure of the church.

Great Bardfield, St Mary the Virgin - locked tight, but the presence of Clerestory windows suggests that any possible Green Man roof bosses inside would be impossibly high and difficult to see.

Finchingfield, St John the Baptist - A Christening appeared to be in progress so I could not gain entry to the church itself. Several heads on the window stops appeared to be modern, one sporting what appeared to be aviator goggles! There was an older mouth-puller figure on the northwest side of the tower though (difficult to photograph against the sun).

 
The village itself is beautiful, but was busy with the hum of motorbike engines around the village pond. It seems to be one of those places they all converge on when the weather is as pleasant as it was today.

Looking at the map after the journey, it never fails to amaze me just how many churches there are still left to visit in this area.
See this trip on TravelSkoot.

Hunting the Green Man - West Penwith pt 1

This week, we're in Cornwall on holiday. Each time we come down here, I set a target of things to see  - we've seen many of the ancient prehistoric monuments, and a large percentage of the old Cornish crosses and Holy Wells that cover the county from Launceston to Land's End. In the pursuit of these last targets, I've visited many of the small parish churches, but never before have I taken particular notice of any carvings in the churches.

And so, on the first day of our holiday, I started to revisit some of the churches that I know, this time in a slightly more organised manner. Most of the Cornish churches are built of granite, which does not carve that easily. Luckily, I uncovered several wooden Green Man figures, mainly as roof bosses. This first batch of visit reports (and a negative report is as useful as a positive one for those who may wish to follow my steps) concerns churches on the West Penwith peninsular. Warning - this could end up being a long post!

Gulval, St Gluvias

On all previous attempts, I have been unable to gain access here, as it is usually locked apart from a brief opening on Saturday mornings, and the usual Sunday Services. As we'd been early leaving London, I'd made a special effort to get here for the Saturday opening, and was well rewarded. The vicar was in residence and I explained my self-imposed task. Although he couldn't help me directly, he wished me well and left me to look around. I checked the roof bosses and spotted a gilded face, with what looked like a moustache of leaves. I'm not fully convinced as yet, but will count this as my first hit of the week.

On perambulating the church, I spotted an unusual chair in the north aisle. I asked the vicar, who knew nothing about it, and also checked the church guidebook, which did not mention it at all. The chair was crudely carved, the back included a standing figure wearing what looked like fur shorts, and carrying a club. Could this be a faun? There was another figure cowering under a tree. The top of the chair back showed a possible green man on one side, and a copy of the figure on the seat - what looked like a bearded 'merman', but with a foliate tail. What is the story behind this strange chair?

  

Ludgvan, St Ludgvan & St Paul

I was surprised to find this church open, as it has been locked on previous visits unless someone was in attendance, cleaning or suchlike. This time I had the place to myself. I quickly identified two roof bosses, one a classic Green Man, the other a face (female?) within a foliate frame. There are also corbelled heads on the tower, but these are too worn to make out any distinct details.

  

Madron, St Maddern

On arrival here on Sunday morning, the vicar (the same one at Gulval previously) was just locking up as he had another service to attend elsewhere. He suggested I return later in the day after the later service, and I'm glad I made the effort to get back here.

Madron church contains over 200 roof bosses, and a great many of them appear to be copies of, or similar to the foliate framed head that I saw in Ludgvan.

   

However, the main prize was to found in the choir, where two fine poppy head bench ends were found, one male and one female, both of the Green Man type.

  

Morvah, St Brigit of Sweden

This church is apparently the only one in Britain dedicated to Brigit of Sweden. A service was being prepared, but I could easily see that there was very little decoration in the church, and no chance at all of finding my target here.

Pendeen, St John

This church was locked during my visit, though I have gained access on previous visits.

St Just, St Just

This church has always been open whenever I've visited, but has no Green man symbology that I can find.

Sancreed, St Credus

This church was locked during my visit, and has always been locked on previous visits. I suspect the church is only opened for the early morning Sunday service.

I hope to get around the majority of the Penwith churches later in the week.

Hunting the Green Man - Essex part 2

Today we made an early start, armed with another list of six Essex churches to visit in our quest for the Green Man, with information taken from the CotGM web site gazetteer.

Matching St Mary: 'South wall corbel end'

The head is inside, on the east side of the South door. It's partner on the other side of the door is a double 'face-puller', another favourite motif of mine. I wouldn't say this Green Man is a classic, again only 2 oak leaves coming from the mouth, no other foliage in evidence. Also, the inside of the church has been heavily whitewashed, obscuring any possible finer details. The figure is mentioned in passing in the church guide, but no mention of its 'green' credentials at all.

White Roding St Martin: 'Horned god corbel, end of chancel on Southside'

Sadly, the church was locked, no access, so nothing to report. I was looking forward to meeting a 'horned god' in church too!

High Easter St Mary: 'Above door'

I could see nothing that looked remotely like a green man, either externally or internally above any of the doors. The roof supports are finely carved, but it was very dark that high up, and no details could be seen. There were some faces, but these could have been cherubim or angels - certainly no foliage was in evidence. Externally there were some heads on the high windows of the tower which looked suspicious, but use of a zoom lens showed these to be leonine beasts rather than the Green Man.

The West door of the tower is a possible candidate for the location as the church guide states: "..a fine doorway with a pointed arch beneath a rectangular frame, the spandrels being carved with two men (?) (sic) on the north and a winged animal on the south; a much eroded bust of an angel holding a shield is at the apex. the hood-mould and string course over are carved with animal heads, Fleur de Lys and other motifs."

It's always possible that one or more of the 'animal heads' has been misinterpreted as a Green Man, as they are very eroded.

Great Canfield St Mary: 'South Porch'

The church itself was locked, but there was access to the porch. The South door of the church has some fine Norman carving. On the left is a bearded figure with two birds, on the right is another face, with a serpentine beard, definitely neither are a Green Man. I saw no other external carvings but could not gain access to inside the church.

Behind the church is some 'waste land' - a break in the church boundary shows a used path leading down into a dip. On closer inspection, the dip is a moat for an old Motte and Bailey Norman stronghold - the outline can be clearly seen on Google Earth satellite imagery.

Update: the heads pictured above apparently depict Norse mythology, as described here.

Little Dunmow St Mary: 'Interior (unconfirmed)'

The church was locked, but keyholders were listed and I gained entry. An interesting church, originally the Lady Chapel of a much larger abbey on the site of which little/no trace remains. There is a tomb to Matilda Fitzwater, who may or may not have been the Maid Marian of Robin Hood fame, Robin Hood himself having Green Man connections of course :-) There are some carved heads on the South windows, but as always on a sunny day, it's difficult to take meaningful pictures of these when facing into the sun. I noted one bestial head, and a bearded figure with long hair, but no foliage at all. Below the South windows are some stone panels with fine carvings of beasts and suchlike. Again, these were examined, but no trace of a GM anywhere that I could see.

Could either of the central figures above bee considered as Green Men? I don't think so.

Great Dunmow St Mary: 'North Wall'

Another locked church but keyholders were listed and I gained entry. The exterior of this church is emblazoned with small portrait heads on all windows except a couple on the North side, and all external drainpipes (dated 1907) have large gargoyle heads. All that is, apart from one on the north wall of the tower, which is a classic Green Man.

The CotGM gazetteer states this is C14, but I don't see how it would have survived on an external wall for all that time in such fine condition. The design is almost identical to some 'modern' GM plaques I've seen available in garden centres and the like. I spoke to the keyholder, but he was unaware of the Green Man at all, let alone the fact that such a fine example was on the wall less than 50 yards from his house! With such a fine collection of heads on the outside, I was disappointed by the interior. Any possible heads seem to have been eroded or removed from the columns. I saw two locations that seemed to have a foliate border to them in 'classic' style matching the head outside, but there was no evidence that these had ever had faces on their fronts. The thick, ever present whitewash made making out any details at all extremely difficult.

So that's it, only 2 new photos for the collection, out of 6 churches visited. Not a good return for the trip, but hopefully the information given will help flesh out the gazetteer some more.

Next week we're off to Cornwall for a break. Doubtless I'll be hunting unlisted Green Men whilst down there, and I'll report any finds both here and to the CotGM web site for addition to the gazetteer.

See this trip on TravelSkoot.