Gargoyle Hunting

Guide
 Gargoyle Hunting Guide
Bob Trubshaw

Cover illustration by Ian Brown

ISBN 978-1-905646-12-8

© Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2008

Originally published as a booklet for a Leicestershire County
Council-funded workshop at Tilton on the Hill 2008.
Contact details revised 2013 and published
as a free-to-download PDF at
www.hoap.co.uk/gargoyle_hunting_guide.pdf

Based on 'Mawming and mooning: the minds of medieval masons',

Leicestershire Historian No.43 2007, and 'Gurning and tongue poking: an
insight in the minds of medieval masons', Church Building No.94 2005.

The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted. All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without prior written permission from Heart of Albion Press,
except for brief passages quoted in reviews.

Published by
Heart of Albion Press
113 High Street, Avebury
Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1RF
[email protected]

Please visit our Web site: www.hoap.co.uk

Gargoyles and grotesques:
an insight into the minds of medieval minds

We may not know the names of medieval stonemasons but their vast
output of work, in all its variety, does more than simply decorate churches.
Their stylised and grotesque foliage and figures offers clues to the attitudes
of whole generations of people whose thinking has otherwise been lost
from the written records.
Fabulous, hideous and even incongruously bawdy figurative carvings sit
alongside characterful human and animal heads, not to mention forests of
decorative foliage. Indeed sometimes the foliage and the faces become
one and the same, as with the so-called ‘Green Men’.
The craftsmanship varies from quaint, clearly local efforts, to sophisticated
displays of stonemasons' skills, with faces and creatures in wonderfully
animated postures. The best examples – and there are many of them – are
clever caricatures or imaginatively hideous.
What were these masons thinking about when they were carving? One of
the most frequent motifs is a face – usually human but sometimes animal –
with one or both hands pulling the mouth. About twenty years ago they
were dubbed ‘gurning’ faces, a name which derives from Cumbrian
‘gurning’ (or ‘girning’) competitions for pulling faces. However in the 1881
dictionary of Leicestershire Words, Phrases and Proverbs by Arthur Benoni
Evans and Sebastian Evans there is an entry which reads:
to make mawms; to 'make faces' in derision.
So perhaps Leicestershire’s face-pulling grotesques should be referred to as
‘mawming’ gargoyles rather than gurning ones.
Among the mawmers, tongue pokers also abound; indeed some may be
both tongue poking and mawming. Also very common are foliate faces
and so-called ‘Green Men’, with foliage sprouting from their mouth, nose,

1
A curious caricature – one of many figurative carvings on the outside of
Cold Overton church, Leicestershire.

ears or even eyes. More unusual motifs include naked male contortionists
(medieval precursors to modern day ‘mooners’), female exhibitionists
(referred to coyly as ‘sheela-na-gigs’) and women wearing a scold’s bridle.

2
A human face with
ass's ears. Foxton
church, Leicestershire.

Later in the medieval period carvings tend to borrow more from heraldic
devices so dragons and wyverns (two-legged winged beasts) become more
popular. Angels and Biblical subject matter also begin to appear more
frequently, although still does not predominate.
As most rural churches were restored in the mid-nineteenth century, when
the Gothic Revival was in full flower, original medieval carvings were
retained and, if necessary, restored. Noticeably the churches restored in
the eighteenth century were often radically transformed by Classically-
inspired architects who found the ‘Gothic’ medieval decoration abhorrent
(indeed, the term ‘Gothic’ was originally derogatory, meaning ‘barbarous
and uncouth’); presumably the rubble walls of their rebuilt churches
incorporate fragments of the despised and broken-up medieval
embellishments.

3
 'Piggy-back' gargoyle
– a variation on the
'mawming' or face-
pulling motif.
Loddington,
Leicestershire.

The Victorian craze for the Gothic may have saved the large majority of
the medieval masons’ decorative work, but they were not perfect
conservators. The vogue for bare stone meant that all traces of paint were
almost invariably removed from interior carvings. So, although the
carvings are now bare stone or wood, we should try to image them in
garish colours, perhaps with gilding. This is not as speculative as it seems
– medieval records survive revealing that the craftsmen painting sculptures
were paid as much as the carvers.
There is a vast wealth of decorative medieval carvings in churches, vastly
exceeding all other surviving medieval art. Often dozens of examples can
be found in a single church and in all there are several thousand in
Leicestershire and Rutland.

4
A face-pulling or
‘mawming’ animal.
One of many superb
carvings in Sproxton
church, Leicestershire.

Frustratingly, even though such carvings are often among the best features
of churches, most guidebooks ignore them. It seems that they fall between
the cracks of professional interests. They ‘merely’ decorate the functional
parts of the structure, so are of secondary interest to most architects.
Historians have nothing to offer because there are rarely any documentary
references. And the subject matter and designs are too far removed from
the ‘high art’ of medieval times to fall within the interests of art historians.
There is a small number of specialists in medieval folklore but their
interests have, so far, been restricted to other aspects – the closest has been
a study of ‘bawdy’ pilgrims’ badges.
The medieval stonemasons who produced decorative carvings for
churches were among the elite of fellow craftsmen, but they were not part
of a ‘high art’ tradition. Indeed, even painters and sculptors who are now
undeniably regarded as ‘artists’, such as Michaelangelo and Leonardo da
Vinci, were merely ‘artisans’ within their own societies. To understand the
motifs and imagery, we need to be knowledgeable about the popular
culture of the middle ages. The clues are in drinking songs, bawdy ballads
and such literature as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

5
A splendid 'green lion' on a corbel inside Long Clawson church,
Leicestershire.

Popular folklore says that grotesque gargoyles are to frighten away the
Devil. But this does not explain why similar grotesques and a whole range
of images with no Biblical references are found inside the churches. Some
have speculated that Green Men and female exhibitionists are evidence for
pre-Christian beliefs surviving during the Middle Ages. This suggestion
simply does not fit the facts; these grotesques are the product of a deeply
Christian culture, albeit part of the ‘popular’ culture that was clearly
different from that of the clerical hierarchy, and which existed alongside
more pious statues of saints (mostly destroyed in the Reformation) and wall
paintings (mostly destroyed during restorations).
However to be able to draw together the clues as to the meaning of these
medieval carvings we need to know what the clues are. And, so far, this
great wealth of carving is largely unknown and unrecorded. To begin to
understand these carvings we need to know more about the distribution of
motifs (both their location and estimates of date). Most importantly,
specific motifs – such as Green Men or exhibitionists – need to be

6
Green man decorating the corbel table at Ryhall, Rutland.

recorded not on their own but in the context of associated decorative

motifs. For example, if a Green Man decorates a nave roof corbel then the
other images in the set of corbels in a nave also need to be known.
I have written a book and ‘companion’ CD-ROM about some of the
Leicestershire and Rutland examples. However these cover only a small
proportion of the counties’ medieval carvings. Now that digital cameras
enable large quantities of photographs to be taken without incurring the
cost of film (although cameras with telephoto lenses are essential) and
publication on Web sites or CD-ROM is relatively straightforward, there is
little excuse for these treasures of medieval art to remain unknown. If only
a small number of people record and publish the carvings in their area
then a better understanding of what is out there will quickly be available.

7
Next time you see a curious carving or especially gruesome gargoyle, think
about the mason who made it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could begin
to understand his decidedly curious thinking! If everyone who was curious
about medieval masons took photographs and built up a collection of local
examples then we would be taking long-overdue first steps towards
understanding and appreciating the vast wealth of medieval art in
Leicestershire. I will of course be pleased to hear from anyone who shares
my enthusiasm for this overlooked aspect of the county’s heritage.

Bob Trubshaw
[email protected]
01672 539077

Recommended reading

Explore Green Men by Mercia MacDermott with photographs by Ruth

Wylie. Explore Books 2003. ISBN 1 872883 66 4
Good Gargoyle Guide: Medieval Carvings of Leicestershire and Rutland by
Bob Trubshaw. Heart of Albion 2004. ISBN 1872883 70 2
Interactive Gargoyles and Grotesque Carvings of Leicestershire and
Rutland. CD-ROM with over 280 colour photographs. Heart of Albion
2002. ISBN 1 872883 54 0.

Details of these books and the CD-ROM

can be found online at
www.hoap.co.uk

8
How to hunt gargoyles
1 Pack binoculars, camera, sketch pad and pens, map, Good
Gargoyle Guide, water, sandwiches, umbrella, suncream,
mobile phone ...
2 Find a church where gargoyles are likely to lurk.
3 LOOK UP!
Repeat steps 1 to 3 until successful.

What to do in the event of a successful gargoyle hunt

1 Trying saying 'Hello' to the gargoyle. This takes them by
surprise as few people speak to them. If they do start a
conversation then write down what they say.
2 Ask them if it's OK to draw their portrait or take a photo.
They very rarely so 'No' but they do like being asked first.
3 If they are looking a bit tatty, do another drawing showing
how you think they looked when the stonemason had just
finished.
4 Do a drawing showing how they may have looked when
brightly painted. When finished turn the drawing round so
the gargoyle can see - it makes them happy to think back to
when they were young (although they may even shed a tear
or two if their youth seems a very long time ago).
5 What would happen if one of the gargoyles escaped and
wandered off to the nearest shop for a paper and a packet
of crisps? Write down what you think people might say to
it.
6 What sort of songs do gargoyles sing when they think no
one is around to listen? Write down a gargoyle song or
two.