A few miles from where I live lies the village of Rous Lench. It's a good run on a bike on a warm summer's evening although the first stretch is a long slog up a steep hill, the sort of climb that makes me want a paramedic cruising along behind, just in case.The churchyard at Rous Lench has featured several times on these pages; it's one of those places that has a magical quality, particularly in the late evening sun. There is a strong sense of serenity and agelessness. It's a feeling I pick up from time to time, often in religious environments but not exclusively so. It doesn't conflict with my deity-free belief system; it's just something in the air, in the ground, in the light, in the shadow, wherever. In all probability it's the reason the church was built there in the first place.
Part of the attraction of this particular church is the carving around the south doorway. There are two Green Men, ancient symbols of rebirth and fertility. The one I've shown has what's known as a 'disgorging head' - other versions include 'bloodsucker' and 'foliate'. It's a lovely, crisp piece of carving, the more so after I'd cleaned up the spiders' webs; cleaning stonework seems to be my thing this week although you'll be pleased to hear that no spit was involved this time.
3 comments:
What, exactly, is it disgorging? And that feeling? I felt it too when Jane and I found a circle of trees above Norwich. I could have stayed there forever and wanted for nothing...
"...it's just something in the air, in the ground, in the light, in the shadow, wherever. In all probability it's the reason the church was built there in the first place."
Oh. I really like that. The sacredness/power of the place begetting the construction of the stone circle, the church, the ring of trees.
Now I have to look more closely at the picture to see what, exactly, is being disgorged.
Thanks Pauline & Shara. I think in this representation it's supposed to be a vine or maybe a branch. You sometimes find them in English churches carved in wood on the ends of pews or as decoration at the top of a column or arch.
There is a place in the Auverne on the side of a valley surrounded by trees that Pixie and I found many years ago. We could have stayed there all day - and someone had plonked a little chapel down in the middle of it.
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