A 12th century doorway of St Andrew's church, Great Rollright, with two orders (beakhead and chevron) with an outer band of chevron, an elaborate carved tympanum, and detached jamb shafts with scalloped capitals.
"Great Rollright is situated 3 miles NE of Chipping Norton in rolling countryside close to the Warwickshire border. The church probably dates from the mid-12thc. It now comprises a chancel, nave and S aisle. The chancel arch and S aisle date from the 13thc., and the chancel from the 15thc. The church was restored by G.E. Street in 1852. The Romanesque S aisle doorway features fine mid-12thc. carving, with a lintel and tympanum of chip-carved motifs and roundels, and a unique type of beakhead around the arch. It must have been reset when the S nave aisle was built. There is also an exterior pointed N nave doorway with a slightly pointed rear-arch decorated with chevron on both face and soffit.
Two orders. Round-headed arch with beakheads set between two bands of chevrons, and a densely decorated tympanum and lintel within the arch. On the interior, the rear-arch is round headed.
Dimensions:
Doorway, height of opening 1.96 m
Doorway, width of opening 1.16 m
Lintel, depth 0.16 m
Lintel, height 0.21 m
Lintel, width 1.16 m
Tympanum, height 0.53 m
Tympanum, maximum width 1.05 m
Details
1st order -
Detached nookshafts set en delit. Bases Attic type, damaged. Necking a plain roll to L, roll decorated with cable to R. Capitals square, the L capital multi-scalloped and the R triple-scalloped on S and W faces, with double-D-shaped shields with beaded borders. Imposts broad, the chamfer slightly hollow chamfered, the face with intersecting half-circles outlined by double lines.
In the arch, three rows of lateral half-cylindrical chevron forming a continuous sequence across face and soffit.
2nd order -
Nookshafts and bases as 1st order. Roll neckings with cable on L and plain on R. Capitals square, same L and R, double-scalloped with wedges, double D-shaped shields outlined with a continuous incised line. Imposts continuous with 1st order but with the upper part decorated differently: on L, outer face worn, soffit face with intersecting circles; on R, large chip-carvings with triangular fields on both faces.
In the arch, 20 beakhead voussoirs, see below. Label with one row of lateral raised chevron on the face.
2nd order, beakheads -
Twenty voussoirs bear 21 beakheads of different widths with thinner ones at top centre. Beakheads unusual in that the whole head is carved on a wide shallow roll (instead of only the beak projecting on to a minor roll). Only the narrower heads look bird-like, although all heads have narrow beaks. Many broad heads are grotesque with multiple horizontal ridges. From L to R:
1 Large broad head with horizontal ridges at the extrados, damaged below, with a short beak.
2 Narrower head with ridges above and plain below, with a short beak.
3 Very broad square head with small pointed ears at top corners, ridges drawn up into an upturned vee in the centre. Two round eyes at the sides beneath the vees, short or damaged beak.
4 More bird-like, with a narrower plain head with low-set round eyes and a longer beak pierced along the keel and sides.
5 Wide head with little pointed ears and all-over pattern of ridges and grooves, almost simulating eyes, nose, mouth and chin. Beak with a few piercings.
6 Bird-like as 4 but with a longer beak with no piercing.
7 Broad and square like 3, but featuring eyes at sides as well as a large circle in the centre. Short beak.
8 Small head, but ridged, with a long beak.
9 - 13 Longer heads. 9, 10 and 12 with upper part ridged, 11 and 13 lacking ridges, all with lateral eyes, 11-13 with beaks pierced.
14 Large wide head with curled ridges emanating from centre, eyes lacking. Beak trimmed down.
15, 16 As 9.
17 Large head as 14, beak missing.
18 Narrow head as 9.
19 As 9, but eyes below transverse ridges.
20 Two heads with human features. Left, head with two round eyes, straight long nose, little mouth and a long chin or beard, below which two pointed, ridged processes extend. Right, a possible female head, with a body or possible beakhead below.
Lintel -
Decorated with five sunken roundels or medallions with beaded borders, each with an upstanding central boss surrounded by scallops (1st and 2nd), concentric circles (3rd) or plain fields (4th and 5th). The spaces between the roundels contain irregular coils and stars-in-square.
Tympanum -
Divided into five horizontal registers narrowing towards the top. From bottom to top:
Row 1 Six sunken roundels, all except the 5th with beaded borders, smaller than those on the lintel, preceded on the left by a large chip-carved star-in-square with pellets in the quadrants, and a smaller one immediately above. There are large fluted bosses in the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th roundels, and plain ones in the 3rd and 4th; the fields are scalloped except in the 3rd and 6th that are plain.
Row 2 Frieze of chip-carved star-in-square with pellets in the quadrants.
Row 3 To the L, and overlying the star-in-square, is a tapering fish, bound from the wide head down by striations, as if in a winding-cloth, with pierced eyes and open jaws in the act of devouring or extruding a human head; beneath its tail is another human head. To the R, more star-in-square with pellets.
Rows 4 and 5 Star-in-square with pellets, interrupted by a central sunken roundel, occupying both rows, with a beaded border and central boss.
It is interesting that Great Rollright displays roundels or medallions on the S doorway, because there are other churches where they are also associated with beakheads. The nearest is at St Nicholas, Kenilworth (Warks), on the W doorway, outside the round-headed arch decorated with beakheads but within its outer rectangular frame (see entry on this website). And at All Saints, Lullington (Somerset), four roundels occur on the gable above the N doorway, that has beakheads on the arch. Malmesbury abbey (Wilts), has roundels on the exterior S wall at clerestory level. They are considered to be a West Country motif, particularly associated with Bishop Roger of Sarum (Stalley, 1971). The association here is not clear, unless it was possibly with Geoffrey de Clinton, who was active and resided in this area, notably at Cassington, just NW of Oxford. He was royal Chamberlain and treasurer under Henry I and therefore a colleague of Bishop Roger.
Beakheads have been defined as 'an ornament taking the form of a head of a bird, beast or monster, the beak or jaw of which appears to grip the moulding across which it is carved' (Clapham, 1934). Here there is an unusual situation, where the whole grotesque beakhead is carved on a shallow wide roll. This is unique for beakheads in this area (Newson, 2013). There are conventional beakheads in plenty nearby at Barford St Michael, probably from c. 1150, that could have served as a model. Possibly these were carved at an earlier date, or perhaps the mason wanted to create something unique.
The figures on the tympanum may represent the whale or fish that swallowed Jonah, perhaps the two human heads suggesting his birth and resurrection."
SOURCE - (
visit link)