There is a group of parish churches in southeast Norfolk with south doors a rival to the rising sun.
Ashby St Mary church, Norfolk: Photo taken April 2018
Dated to early C12th, it’s thought the work was performed by a German or Dutch stonemason who was visiting the area. Why was his visiting? Well, the design is remarkably similar to that found at Norwich Cathedral of the same approximate date.
#picoftheweek challenge: Entrance
Ashby St Mary up close
See also my blog of 2016: The Confusing Case of The Norman Arches, written when I stumbled upon the first of this group at Hellington.
That is some serious stone-work. I’m constantly in awe when I see something like this. The work it must have taken. Just wow!
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Ditto. And the amazing this is, it was funded not by some Norman lord, but by the parishioners, the smallholders and tenants etc. There are several churches in the area all with similar Byzantine doors, but all on estates held by different families. Peasant power! That’s what I say.
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That is super cool!
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Love it ! Great shot , great door?
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I thank you, Judy. I love the way the stone is carved in what can only be a sunburst. Lord of the Light, indeed. And I have tried to ‘encourage’ that sunlike quality to shine through
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What a beautiful arch! Especially interesting on such an otherwise unimposing door. The stone looks almost yellow, too, to add to the sunburst effect. At first I thought it was actually gold-painted! Is that the type of stone, or does it only appear yellow in the photo because of the lighting?
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While I have ‘intensified’ the yellow, it is inherent in the stone. I’m not sure the source of the stone. If I’m right and it was executed by the same mason as the south door at Norwich cathedral, then it probably came from Caen, in France. Except, that stone tends towards pink, at least in presence of fire damage. All I can say for certain is we have no native stone in Norfolk, except flint and chalk bedrock, but while that chalk tends to yellow with age, it also tends to crumble and be slightly greasy (great for hopscotch). The stone here isn’t that.
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Imported stone sounds plausible, and even more impressive, that they went to such lengths.
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Indeed. But as I said in the post, this is one of several in the area. I should have said ‘unique’ to the area.
There is a parish church just outside Norwich with carving that is astonishingly well preserved but I think it dates from slightly later, and the patterns are different.
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