Church Carvings, a talk by Richard Colbran

At our 16th Nov 2019 meeting Richard gave a talk and slide presentation about Church Carvings and how they originated. Information about creatures from faraway lands was passed on by travellers in the form of verbal descriptions sometimes enhanced by a sketch.

Monks compiled these drawings into books known as bestiaries, which illustrated strange creatures both real and imaginary, but nearly all inaccurate.

Carvers used this information for their work in churches and cathedrals, as well as biblical scenes and moral stories often based on village life. Heraldry was also frequently commissioned by the wealthy patrons of the church.

Many pictures of their work in the form of gargoyles, grotesques, misericords, bench-ends and arm-rests were shown, as well as a few of his own carvings in the same tradition.