2/3 a lion and a woodwose having a scrap on a 15th Century misericord at Norton. Unusually for Suffolk, the lion appears to be winning (our woodwoses are usually a tough lot).
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
I wonder if the carver started off doing a unicorn and then changed his mind! But the two humps with straggly hair are common to other depictions of camels on Suffolk bench ends, usually with head erect. It looks more like a horse, of course.
That's quite possible. Maybe churches are good for us, as they present the "unknowable" at regular intervals, the antithesis of Thomas Gradgrind's way of thinking about the world?
Fascinating. Is he dressed in leaves or furred? I realised I have seen a woodwose before but in Lincolnshire - however, as it was on the tomb of Katherine Willoughby, it was perhaps a reference to the fact she was duchess of Suffolk.
Hairy, I think! You do get them elsewhere, but they're particularly common in Norfolk and Suffolk, especially on font stems. They're also the heraldic device of the Wodehouse/Woodhouse family of Norfolk.
Comments