Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Frome, Somerset

My mixed media sketch of the Norman animal carving

This pointy-eared creature is billed as Anglo-Saxon, but surely its jaunty pose and classic 'tail wrapped under the leg' points to a Norman date? It's not the same colour stone as the knotwork (below), which perhaps also supports the idea they're not connected. (I've since found that the South West Corpus book says it is Saxon though, so I suppose I should defer).

My pen and watercolour sketch of the knotwork fragment

This Saxon fragment is clearest on the left side, and has at least one creature biting onto the 
knotwork. The zig zags (faint on my drawing) suggest there is definitely the snakey body of an animal (dragon?) here too - it's a motif present in the carvings at Colerne and Ramsbury.

 Images © Rhiannon 2014

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