St Mary The Virgin, Earl Stonham,
Suffolk
Sedilia are seats for the clergy. These are usually positioned
on the south side of the chancel and have two or three seats. To the east of
them is usually a piscina often decorated in a similar style.
In Earl Stonham the drop sill sedilia has two seats and is
incorporated into the window which is unusual, as sedilia are usually backed by
the south wall of the chancel. Another example of a window sedilia combination can
be seen in Gumley in Leicestershire (below). The two seats in Earl Stonham are
separated by a crouching stone hound who unfortunately has lost his head,
probably as part of the destruction during the Reformation. I love his long
claws and the way his tail is looped over his back and under his back leg. As with
many ancient carvings in churches there are a number of scratches on the body of
the creature one which looks like a cross. It was the norm many years ago to
scratch graffiti into monuments when visiting churches examples of which can be
seen even in our grand cathedrals.
Earl Stonham church is open every day
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd love to hear your comments about the blog and individual posts.