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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture ^^^^^^^^ who's idea was ^^^^*that,* anyway?^^^^^ not as obnoxious as it could be, i suppose. and, it's purpose is.... EE Pridgeon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >...a carving on the outside wall of the church of Longborough in the North Cotswolds. It looks to me like a crudely cut angel with wings folded behind her.... Dear Ellie, i have no idea what your relief might look like, but, given the late date you mention for the church as a whole, there's a good chance that what you're looking at is what we call in the trade _spolia_, i.e., bits of stone --carved or not-- from an earlier structure (on the same site or not) which were reused in the construction of a new building. >Was engraving the outside walls of medieval churches a common practice? you may be thinking of things a bit wrong. the building wasn't put up and then the stones "engraved" --can't apply "engraving" like one does paint. the walls are made of stones (and, in some cases, a good deal of mortar). and those stones have to come from somewhere, have to, at a minimum, be gathered and hauled (if you are talking about putting up a building in a region which is poor in quarryable, hewable stone). if there *is* quarryable stone around which can be cut into nice blocks, then that has to be done (roughly, at least, at the quarry) and then *that* has to be hauled. either way, on site, a wall has to be built out of them, in a slow, monotonous, labor-intensive process. if there is a source of stone --whether rubble, fine ashlar blocks or anything in between-- redily available from the ruins of another building nearby (whether the one which the new one is being built to replace or not), rest assured that source will be fully used, if at all possible. the first, *main* thing facing the mason/architect in charge is, "how do i lay my hands on a few thousand cubic yards of stone?" primary material cause. even in the most hi-toned, fancy-pants of buildings (not usually a parish church), the amount of stone which is in any way worked beyond the minimum which is structurally necessary is a very, very tiny percentage of the whole required to hold the roof up. something not often thought about, perhaps: the "carved" bits are, almost literally, the "icing on the cake." now, if there is, lying about close to hand, a bit of stone with some kind of image on it, it is sure to be used and, if thought fitting, might even be placed with its carved side facing out. such _spolia_ might be a single block (as yours *might* be); or a series of blocks once forming a frieze and reconstructed more or less in tact (Montmorillon, in Burgundy, if i'm not mistaken); or parts of something which it is difficult for us to reconstruct (like the very interestesting bits now in the north facade of the church of the Madelaine at Chateaudun); or even the remains of a much more complex iconographic program (the fine group of reliefs on the Platereas facade at Compostella, which appear to us to have been replaced without a thought to forming a coherent iconographic program, but which the 12th c. Pilgrim tried his very best to make sense out of)... your re-used bit (if, indeed, it is such) might have been from the previous building on the site --or the building before that, or the building.... and might have been reused in part out of sentimental local attachement. or, it could have been fresh cut in the 15th c., by one of the boys on his lunch hour. hard to say without some graphic aid. isn't there a series of guides to local parish churches in England done under the editorship of Nicholas Pevsner? maybe this one is in that series: Newman, J. and Pevsner, N., The buildings of England: Dorset. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. there's one for every county --or at least region, if i recall. might be a good place to start. best from here, christopher ____________________________________________________________________ Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html