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Every now and then you need a little sign to point you in the right direction.
“Over the years, one comes to measure a place, too, not just for the beauty it may give, the balminess of its breezes, the insouciance and relaxation it encourages, the sublime pleasures it offers, but for what it teaches. The way in which it alters our perception of the human."
Barry Lopez, About This Life
The Roar.
I think I’ve told the story before about when I was interviewed on a local radio station and said that buildings spoke to me. The response from the interviewer was one of mild ridicule. It’s nothing to do with the radio jock’s response (he was doing his job), but I still wake up in sweats thinking back to that time because, during the heat of the moment, I froze and couldn’t explain what I meant.
And now, beneath the arch of a tower that was built before the Conquest, I’m thinking back to the day of that interview. For in front of me is one of two 9th-century animal heads that span the entrance to the nave at the Saxon church of St. Mary in Deerhurst; and it’s talking to me.
What emerges from the time I spend in front of the carvings is remarkable.
An enigmatic face, thought to be a wolf, with lines that vividly depict the senses. The eyes are watchful, the ears are listening, the nose jutted, and the mouth is open. After a few more minutes, there’s an overwhelming sense of movement—an allusion, perhaps, to the head thrusting forward, ears and eyes emerging from swirling mists or the murky depths of a river.
This is one of the most powerful pieces of nonverbal communication I have encountered. In our modern age, the equivalent might be Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
Just as The Scream is a depiction of Munch’s soul, the Saxon carving conveys as much for the carver and the society they lived in, through the roar of the wolf’s head.
In these prolonged moments of observation, the swirling visual cues take me to the lines of a poem by Ted Hughes:
‘Winds from fiery holes in heaven
Piled the hills darkening around them
To awe them. The glare light
Mixed its mad oils and threw glooms.
Then the rain lowered a steel press.’
And then the wolf speaks again:
‘Am I the ghost of a memory of a Viking prow silently gliding through the Severn mists? Beware of these things, and all things like it.’ And then it finishes with: 'This is a place of sanctuary - keep out.’
After five more minutes I look at its mouth and hear another echo of the roar from the past. Inside the open jaws are flakes of paint.
It tells me that at one time it glowed with polychromy. An ochre base with a shock of red along its harping lines, deep black in the sockets with jewels encrusted within its eyes. And, over a thousand years ago, the paint was bound with egg - the traces of which, still remain within the deepest pockets of its oolitic skin.
Then it speaks again.
‘What you should have said to the radio jock is this:’
‘When things are done well, when line and form converge into one glorious whole, it's like a paper plane catching an updraft. It's like the lines from a poet or the daubs of paint from a guiding hand that defibrillates our senses, jolting us into collective memory. It's these moments that make us feel alive, rooted, and sensate, reminding us of the profound beauty and interconnectedness of our world.’
The animal heads at Deerhurst have been added to my Treasure Hoard Gazetteer.
Andy Marshall
✨ Tier Members can see an Augmented Reality view of the animal head at Deerhurst here:
Andy Marshall
St. Mary's, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire.
St. Mary's, Deerhurst sits within a bucolic setting. Set amongst the Gloucestershire countryside it nestles within a farm complex with origins in the original monastery on this site. This area was the scene of the treaty between Canute and Edmund Ironside in 1016AD.
The church has significant Anglo-Saxon remains both outside and inside dating from the C9th onwards. Remarkably the outline of the original Saxon apse can still be seen at the east end, in front of the farmhouse which has origins in the original monastery on the site.
Walk around to the gable of the farmhouse, turn around, look up and you will see angels.
Inside, we are greeted by an C8th Virgin with Child that might have been part of the destroyed apse (alongside the angel). Some painting still survives on the stone.
Once again, another remarkable design - the C9th tub font - is Anglo Saxon - covered in swirls and swags with Celtic intonations. Apparently it was used as a water butt on a farm for many years.
✨ Tier Members can see an Augmented Reality view of the Saxon Font here:
Andy Marshall
Everywhere you look there are signs of this building's Saxon origins.
✨ Tier Members can see the Saxon wall at Deerhurst in glorious VR here:
Andy Marshall
And then there's a lovely layering up of periods - an archaeological stratification of styles and periods bumping into each other. A kind of architectural integration of different minds and periods of time.
Deerhurst should come with a health warning—those with delicate dispositions might find their hearts racing when they discover not one, but two remarkable Anglo-Saxon buildings awaiting them.
Odda's Chapel
Just around the corner, out towards the flood plains of the River Severn is a timber framed building with a stone-built wing.
The stone building and the timber framed extension is the nave and chancel to Odda's Chapel a rare survival from 1056. It was discovered in 1885 by the Revd George Butterworth.
A dedication stone was found in an adjoining orchard in 1675 and it reads:
'Earl Odda ordered this royal chapel to be built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity for the good of the soul of his brother Aelfric who died in this place. Bishop Ealdred dedicated it on April 12th in the 14th year of the reign of Edward, King of the English.'
I walk inside and, once again, as with many churches with small openings, the light is particulate, effervescent. I so want to sketch it - to absorb the chancel arch, the long and short work, the layers of stone into memory.
And whilst I'm sketching I remember the week just past and my visit to Tom Denny - I remember him thumbing and palming his work - and decide to do the same with my sketch.
I apply the paint to my hands and thumb in the textures to the walls.
'Rather like making patchwork, I “sew” my daily observations into my sketchbook, stroke by stroke. I like handwork. Life becomes warm and loving because of handwork. '
Cai Gao artist.
To peep through the chancel arch is to see a place of sanctuary and also a place that, remarkably, was once a domestic residence - used by the incumbent without any knowledge of its origins.
✨ Tier Members can see Odda's Chapel in glorious VR here:
Andy Marshall
Walking and Cycling Routes around Deerhurst
There's a small amount of parking outside both St. Mary's and also Odda's Chapel. I opt to park outside the chapel and finish some of the colouring to my sketch whilst still feeling the energy from the place.
More sketches inside the van.
Andy Marshall
Gillian Harvey
Aida Edemariam
This time last year:
'Stopping and taking time to observe is an act of faith in the material truth that surrounds us. It washes away the fake news, discomfort and confusion of present times and helps me feel rooted.'
Andy Marshall
All things Virtual Reality:
Andy Marshall
The Cast Room:
Andy Marshall
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Andy Marshall
Recent Digest Sponsors:
Andy Marshall
An Opportunity to Own My Original Artwork: Saxon St. Laurence, Bradford-on-Avon.
I'm selling an original piece from my sketchbook to raise funds for Member Powered Photography. More information here:
Andy Marshall
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Photographs and words by Andy Marshall (unless otherwise stated). Most photographs are taken with Iphone 14 Pro and DJI Mini 3 Pro.
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