Tympanum - St Edmund - Egleton, Rutland - Relief Art Sculptures on Waymarking.com

"Romanesque south door of rare exuberance. It is the south door that gives us difficulty, for it has many characteristics that lead many observers, including both humble beginners and legendary experts such as Nikolaus Pevsner, to believe that it dates from around 1060-1080, the Saxo-Norman period when Norman architecture was still influenced by Saxon. The abaci (flat tops) of the capitals are over-large and crude. The decoration shows distinct Celtic influence. The decoration on the pillars is sophisticated but, again, seems to owe more to Saxon than Norman influence. Its proportions are crude and there is a badly-built feeling to it. Could this really be contemporary with Iffley and Kilpeck [churches]? Yet Egleton does not appear in the Domesday Book in 1086. The clue may be in the ill-fitting nature of the structure. I am not alone in believing that it has possibly been put together from reclaimed pieces from an earlier church here or elsewhere.

The south doorway pillars have quite different decorations, as do the capitals and their abaci. The tympanum seems oversized compared to the rest of the doorway. There is a mighty lintel decorated with a complex tendril pattern. Inside the plain hood mould are a double course of “star” patterns and one of chevron moulding. At the end of the hood mould are monster heads. Two more heads appear, for no apparently good reason, within the tympanum. The left hand one is human. Note the totally different devices on the abaci and the capitals, and also on the shafts. Also the right hand abacus is considerably bigger than the left. Every way you look at it, this doorway is a fascinating if enchanting mess, perhaps supporting the theory that this is melange of parts recovered from earlier buildings. It really is quite difficult to see it as dating from 1200.

The tympanum eschews such “normal” images as Christ in Majesty and instead gives us two fantastic beasts, perhaps a dragon and lion either side of a circular device that may be a rose. A cable moulding circumnavigates the rose, whilst another joins the mouths of the two beasts."

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Your impression of the sculpture?: Where is this sculpture?: St Edmund Church Road Egleton, Rutland England LE15 8AD Date Sculpture was opened for vewing?: Not listed Website for sculpture?: Not listed Sculptors Name: Not listed

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