The weather was wet and cold. The afternoon was gloomy (with two bursts of sun, each lasting a few seconds). The church was difficult to get into, and after ringing the keyholder on my mobile 'phone I waited around about twenty minutes until the elderly lady appeared.
Above: while I waited I looked at the exterior of the medieval building, which incorporated many of these little heads in the stonework.
Above: each of the little heads was different, so that I wondered whether they were crude portraits of real people. Had the mason who built the church in the 1380s (on the site of the Norman church, which in turn replaced a Saxon building) incorporated a gallery of village worthies? Or were these just random carvings, the work of a local sculptor ignorant of architectural conventions regarding capitals?
Above: the largest of the medieval heads was over the south arch leading into the building. It shows a bearded man, the features clearly distinguishable, the gaze enigmatic. Was this a prominent servant of the church back in the 1380s?
Above: during the tour of the building the elderly lady showed me this framed photograph, which showed Edwardian parish notables (organist, Sunday School teacher, a prominent farmer) her mother had known as a child. I spent some time looking at the details in the old picture (you can click on the image to enlarge it). Something about the man in the top left seemed familiar.
Above: here you can see them side by side. The same almond eyes, the same even eyebrows, the same straight nose, firm mouth and beard (without a moustache). Fanciful imagination?
It is more than possible that a farming family will stay on the same land for six hundred and twenty years, passing down through the generations the genetic visage, and maintaining a tradition of service to the local parish church.
