Have you heard the one about the eccentric Cornish Anglican parson, who had a penchant for dressing as a mermaid (his attire included a claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a ponchomade from a yellow horse blanket, which he claimed was the ancient habit of St Padarn) and once excommunicated his cat for mousing on a Sunday. Bit harsh! Oh… he also apparently invented the modern Harvest Festival, became addicted to morphine and was even responsible for hanging a mouse (the same one caught by his excommunicated cat, I expect).
Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker
Why am I telling you this? Well, I have been reading Reverend Fergus Butler-Gallie’s Field Guide to the English Clergy again, but also, it might have something to do with the Virtual Refectory post coming to your inboxes tomorrow.
But on the note of things to come, the next episode of Holy Inappropriate shall be on its way soon. Anything specific you'd like me to discuss? Any burning questions about the church or things to that effect that you’d like me to answer? Drop requests below!
I've also just got my hands on a load of copies of my first book Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles, so if you're one of my annual subscribers who would like a copy and doesn't already have one, do let me know and I'll pop a signed and dedicated copy in the post to you.
Love Field Guide book so much that I bought it twice! I think a piece on the symbolism of figures in ceiling bosses, corbel heads, etc, would be wonderful. How can we recognise when a motif means something or is just decoration for example?
That one will provide plenty of room for argument. Even if we can agree what a figure represents, can we really be sure about the significance of its placement? In most churches and cathedrals we don't have a clear indication of the complete scheme so there has often been a lot of guesswork in interpretation.
Yes, I agree to some extent. However, I think that we can find similarities with many of these images, they are often repeated in a geographical cross section of churches, so are they all copied from each other and is there a common message to the observer that needs to be deciphered? For example, does the trefoil in architecture represent, perhaps, the Trinity, etc, or is it just a pretty pattern that caught on with patrons and their masons?
Both! One leads to the other, otherwise the non-conformists got it right and a square plain box will do just as well and keep the rain off. (It might, but boring)
Love Field Guide book so much that I bought it twice! I think a piece on the symbolism of figures in ceiling bosses, corbel heads, etc, would be wonderful. How can we recognise when a motif means something or is just decoration for example?
Your wish shall be granted!
Thank you, Fairy Godmother! LOL.
That one will provide plenty of room for argument. Even if we can agree what a figure represents, can we really be sure about the significance of its placement? In most churches and cathedrals we don't have a clear indication of the complete scheme so there has often been a lot of guesswork in interpretation.
I quite agree, Andrew. Although I've been informed that I'm not allowed to respond simply with “who the heck knows?!”
But we were hoping you had all the answers.
LOL.
Yes, I agree to some extent. However, I think that we can find similarities with many of these images, they are often repeated in a geographical cross section of churches, so are they all copied from each other and is there a common message to the observer that needs to be deciphered? For example, does the trefoil in architecture represent, perhaps, the Trinity, etc, or is it just a pretty pattern that caught on with patrons and their masons?
Perhaps, but is the church built for the observer or as a House of God, as the Heavenly Jerusalem on Earth? Numerological significance abounds, yes.
Both! One leads to the other, otherwise the non-conformists got it right and a square plain box will do just as well and keep the rain off. (It might, but boring)