BENCH ENDS AND GREEN MEN IN SUFFOLK AND NORFOLK CHURCHES
D LOCATIONS. More will be added as they are discovered.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH, DENNINGTON
The church of St. Mary, Dennington, is said to have some of the finest 15th century benches in Suffolk. Their bench ends are carved with mythological creatures and crowned with intricate poppyheads, usually in the shape of a fleur de lys.
The picture at the left is an excellent example, with the ornate poppyhead and the carved animal on the arm rest (see enlargement right) and, further, it also has the sciapod on the bench end itself (see below).
The sciapod was a strange character living in the desert. It had only one foot but that was of such unusual size that it could be held over the creature to shield it from the sun's heat. However, the carver seems to have decided that it should conform, giving it a second foot. St. Mary's can boast that it has the only carving of a sciapod in England. (D.P. Mortlock in his Popular Guide to Suffolk Churches, No. 3).
D.P. Mortlock suggests - possibly a giraffe.
Note the mutilation clearly seen in the picture on the right. The damage portrayed there and in some of the following pictures could perhaps be attributed to Dowsing yet the Journal extract reproduced below from the website of Trevor Cooper, editor of the new edition of The Journal of William Dowsing, does not mention the bench ends. So was that defacement, which occurs on other bench end figures in St. Mary's, done during the earlier iconoclasm, or even independantly by local Puritans?
270. Dinnington [Dennington], Sept. 26, 1644. 10 angels in S[i]r John Rouse his ile, and 2 holy water fonts; and in Bacon’s isle, 9 pictures of angels and crosses, and a holy water font; and 10 superstitious pictures in the chancel, and a holy water font, and 2 superstitious inscriptions of Christ; the spear and nayles, on two stools, on the lower end of the church; and a cherubim in S[i]r John Rouse his stool. Extracted from Trevor Cooper (ed.), The Journal of William Dowsing: iconoclasm in East Anglia during the English Civil War, Woodbridge, 2001
I think this might be Pegasus
I could not resist that second shot - I'm sure that's a grin on her face.
Ready for the hunt, perhaps?
Agreed, no bench end, but too lovely to be omitted. A 17th century box pew.
Before and after preening?
Here, the carving on the near arm rest has been almost completely destroyed, but that on the far end is only slightly damaged - see photo at the right.
I don't know what to make of this one. The rounded ear suggests a big cat, the cuts on its muzzle may represent stripes, so is it a tiger? Either way, a pretty fearsome beast.
The church guide says "... look for an angel, a mermaid, a pelican with her young, a lion, a tortoise, a two-headed eagle and a host of fine hounds." Reading the guide more thoroughly at home I thought "tortoise"? So this entailed yet one more visit to search for the creature and I realised that initially I must have mistaken it for the remains of a badly mutilated larger animal. Close scrutiny revealed the unmistakable marking of its shell, however, so here it is.
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Below is an excellent Green Man carved at the head of the left hand column in the 14th century south chancel window. A fine example and looking as clearcut as if done only yesterday.
Did Dowsing and his men not look up?
And finally, back outside the church, a look at the porch and close-up of the base of a sanctuary ring.
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Click letter for locations with that initial: F G I W Back to Main Bench Ends Page Dennington Church website: http://www.onesuffolk.co.uk/DenningtonPC/ParishChurch/
Copyright Ivy Collins 2009
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