Kencot, Oxfordshire (II)

B and I visited Kencot on August bank holiday last year. It's got a mad tympanum, so that absorbed our drawing energy. But there were also interesting Norman things inside. One of them being this font. Guy Thornton has a photo of it here with some flowers in.

It's very neatly and evenly carved, and I remember that this did make me question its age. But I think when you look at the design, it's got that typical repetitive pattern that makes its Norman origin pretty believable.

It sounds a bit odd, but what it reminds me of most, is my beloved cast concrete Brutalist buildings. Something like this - with straightforward geometric design, and the character of the decoration deriving directly from the nature of the material. On the photo of the font you may notice that extra texture is derived from (what I think are) fossil shells embedded in the stone. I like that, it breaks up the geometrical design in an interesting and random way. I also really like the way the carver has produced three different tones from the way the carving interacts with the light - dark, medium and light.

It also looks remarkably like a salad spinner or a zoetrope. But neither of those things had been invented in Norman times either. I'd initially dismissed it as less interesting for its flatness. But actually I think it's a grower.

Image © Rhiannon 2015

Bromyard, Herefordshire

En route elsewhere, B and I stopped in Bromyard to check out the Romanesque carving at St Peter's church. I'd been super-organised beforehand and looked at the church's website - it said encouragingly that it was usually open all day. But it's so rare that we actually bump into anybody that we were a bit taken aback to find the car park full and the sound of jolly Christian singing in the air.

I'd missed the page that said the churchgoers were becoming a Missional Community. Which is lovely for them of course. And (quite seriously) I am very glad that someone's looking after this amazing building. And even (despite my cynicism) probably, that they're using it for its original purpose. I guess. If I sound mean it's only because the mindset of a Missional Community could not be further from my own. It's not that I disagree with the idea of local community, or being charitable, moral, kind, decent and helpful to others, not killing people, refraining from coveting your neighbour's ass or any of those other sensible Christian tenets. It's the other bits about believing in Jesus as the Son of God and a virgin, who died for your sins in a horrible way on a cross, the bits about angels and devils and Noah's ark and the bible being the inspired and direct word of God, oh and the resurrection. No amount of missional communitying is going to get me to go for any of that.

Here's St Peter and his keys. You can see a photo by Matthew Wells on Flickr.

So we wandered around the outside of the building admiring the lovely carvings, which in some way seemed even nicer for their slightly softened eroded look. At the front door another wandering touristy pair walked past us and into the church. We could hear them being offered alcoholic drinks. It struck me as a bit odd. I suppose Jesus liked a drink, after all he did turn water into wine. But it smacked of a bribe. Or maybe 'what do heathens like drinking? I know, booze. That'll lure them in.' Or a way to relax the unwary so they could be talked to persuasively. I dunno, it was just a bit odd.


We sooo wanted to see the font, it looks smashing. You can see the lovely carvings on the CRSBI website (one side is swirly, the other side an alleged tree of life).

But I felt a bit like a vampire unable to cross the threshold. The Pimms-clutching pair emerged from the church almost immediately, looking vaguely bemused. We decided not to go in.

Images copyright Rhiannon 2014.