Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

The Font At Winterbourne Monkton

The font is Saxon and the carving Norman (that's what my sources say, anyway) 



The zig-zag meander suggests water, and the curving shapes underneath look like horns of plenty.

And then there's this extraordinary figure.



A big-bellied woman, legs splayed, with a leafy sprig coming out of her vulva. In her right hand she holds a sickle. Her face is blank. Her headdress has little points suggesting either horns or a crown. The meander begins at the tip of her sickle and terminates in her cupped left hand. 

That's what I think we're seeing anyway. The carving is so rough there may be other interpretations. Traces of paint remain. 

Who is she- A river goddess? A fertility goddess? St Mary Magdalene? I really don't know. 
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