Pendant to hood-moulding of arch in present east wall of nave, on the west face of the wall to the south of the blocked archway.

As Deerhurst (St Mary) 18

St Mary

The carving is generally in good condition. Some loss of stone has occurred on the sides and in-turning tips of the ears and a small hole has been cut into the left nostril. The joint between the head and the lowest voussoir has been pointed with brown plaster, similar to that used on other repairs to the chancel arch. Like the northern animal head (Deerhurst (St Mary) 18) and the chancel arch in general, this animal head seems to have been covered with layers of limewash, and the mechanical removal of this limewash has resulted in the almost total loss of the original paint layers (Howe 2006a, 49–50).

Animal-head label stop to south side of blocked chancel arch. The head is about 4 cm (1.6 in) longer than its northern partner (Deerhurst St Mary 18), but in all other dimensions the heads are virtually identical. However, most of the additional height/length is in the muzzle and this, together with the lack of surface decoration, makes the head appear sharper and finer than that of the northern animal. The lack of paint also makes it easier to see the smoothed, almost burnished surface finish given to the stone. This level of surface finish is apparent on several of the Deerhurst carvings (for example the Virgin-and-Child carving at the west end of the church (no. 5) and the triangular-headed painted panel (no. 7) that is set high in the east wall of the church (Bagshaw et al. 2006, 69). The head is twisted slightly to the north, continuing and slightly accentuating the general curvature of the hood-moulding. The main structural features are blocked out with flaring nostrils, sweeping brow ridges and two elongated ears with slightly in-curving tips. The top of the head, between the ears, is a straight edge above which the crest area is defined by a simple rectangular panel set back slightly from the top of the head. There is a further shallow set-back from the top of the crest area to the face of the hood-moulding. The forehead is divided into two by a shallow, vertical groove. No attempt has been made to hollow out the centres of the ears and nostrils (with the exception of a small, rather random hole chipped into the centre of the left nostril) and the eyes are not defined at all.

Traces of iron-oxide red and iron-oxide yellow paint have been identified on the head but no details of the decoration have survived apart from the faintest indications of teeth and fangs painted in red, together with larger areas of red paint especially in the shallow, cut-back area of the open mouth on the south side of the creature's jaw.

The analysis of the surviving traces of iron-oxide red and iron-oxide yellow paint indicate that the head is contemporary with its northern partner and that it was once similarly painted (Gem et al. 2008). It is not possible to say why this head was treated so differently to Deerhurst St Mary 18, but the treatment is similar to the contemporary prokrossos and animal heads on the high-level doorway in the porch/tower (nos. 10–12) and to the Virgin-and-Child panel at the west end of the church (no. 5). Once painted, the two animal heads would have been virtually indistinguishable from more than a few metres away.

(See Deerhurst St Mary 13 for a discussion of the group of six animal heads: nos. 13–14, 16–19.)

First half ninth century

Haigh 1846, 17; Butterworth 1862, 95; Strickland 1862; Brown 1925, 205–6, 217; Clapham 1930, 141; Casson 1933, 32; Rivoira 1933, 182, 184; Fisher 1959, 88, 93; Fisher 1962, 175, 177, 183–4; Wilson 1964, 15, 34; Taylor and Taylor 1965, I, 199; Taylor and Taylor 1966, 33–5, 50; Gilbert 1969, 6; Verey 1970b, 167–8; Rahtz et al. 1997, 147, no. 11 in Table VIII; Verey and Brooks 2002, 331; Bailey 2005, 1–7; Gem et al. 2008, 111, 114, 118, 126–8, 133, 136, figs. 11–14, 26, 44