Leaves carved in Cotswold stone flow from the mouth of a Green Man - originally a pagan fertility symbol - on a capital beside the Norman north doorway of the Parish Church of St Swithin at Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK. The church's doorways, carved in the early 1100s, are rated as among the best examples of Romanesque religious sculpture in Britain.
Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK: a Green Man - originally a pagan symbol of fertility and new life - welcomes visitors to the Cotswolds Parish Church of St Swithin, built in the early 1100s and now officially protected as a Grade I Listed Building because of its superb Romanesque sculpture. Foliage flows from the mouth of the crowned grotesque face sculpted in Cotswold stone in this square detail of one of the capitals flanking the north door. The Harrowing of Hell is depicted over the doorway, while on the opposite side of the church, the south door tympanum features Europe's earliest representation of a Coronation of the Virgin artwork still in its original location. Both portals are also richly carved with typical Norman or Romanesque devices such as beakheads and zigzag chevron or dogtooth moulding and are rated as among the finest examples of Romanesque religious art to be found in Britain, Green Men symbols are quite common in ancient British churches, although in many, the symbol is often hidden out of sight. Some are high up on interior walls while others, carved in wood as misericords, can only be found by lifting choir stall seats. Quenington, east of Cirencester and north of Fairford, appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Qvenintone, from the Old English 'Cwenenatun', meaning 'the women's town or settlement' (the word 'queen' has the same derivation). The church, founded by the wealthy Lacy or de Laci family, passed in 1138 to St Peter's Abbey in Gloucester and then in 1193 to the Knights Hospitaller military order. A 13th century Knights Hospitaller gatehouse survives in the village.
Size: 2822px × 2821px
Location: Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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