Select a site alphabetically from the choices shown in the box below. Alternatively, browse sculptural examples using the Forward/Back buttons.
Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.
Object type: Fertility figure
Measurements: H. 28 cm (11 in); (W. 26 cm (10.2 in); D. 10 cm (4 in)
Stone type: Pale yellowish-grey, fine- to medium-grained, shelly, oolitic limestone; possibly Taynton Stone Formation, Great Oolite group, Middle Jurassic
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 404
Corpus volume reference: Vol 4 p. 244-245
(There may be more views or larger images available for this item. Click on the thumbnail image to view.)
The stone is a square panel of fundamentally rectangular section. Only one face is carved.
A (broad): The surface is hollowed to leave a narrow, plain, relief frame. It contains a frontally-placed, naked, female figure positioned slightly to the left of the vertical axis of the face. The head, without facial features, overlaps the upper frame. The tapering, rounded-ended, left leg runs into the left-hand corner. The right leg is raised and slightly overlaps the right-hand border. The right arm curves out and down to touch the thigh, and the left arm, which is similarly curved, overlaps the border, and turns horizontally to touch the waist. The genitalia are marked.
Appendix A item (stones dating from Saxo-Norman overlap period or of uncertain date).
If, as records in the church suggest, this piece was removed from the belfry stage of the west tower, then it is possible that it is coeval in date with the tower. Taylor and Taylor regard the tower as mid to late eleventh century in date (Taylor and Taylor 1965–78, i, 481). The simplicity of the figure renders comparative dating impossible.
