Easthorpe

The Easthorpe Sheela currently resides in the Castle Museum in Colchester but originally came form the small parish church in nearby Easthorpe. It was donated to the museum by the vicar of the church early in the 20th century as he thought it too “obscene” to keep in the church. The figure was originally kept above the south doorway in an alcove but also served time as an ornament in the garden rockery of the vicarage. Once again we have classic position for a sheela above or near entrances to the church, however it is possible to make too much of this positioning as the alcove may just have been a convenient place to put the carving. Interestingly this sheela has the word ELUI carved down the right hand side. The significance of this name is now lost however both Barbara Freitag and Jorgen Andersen put forward theories on the possible meaning of the name. With Andersen citing a possible connection to St Eloi and Freitag giving several possible connections. For some more conjecture click here.

The figure stands with bent knees, both hands gesture towards the oversized vulva which reaches to below the feet and seems to include a clitoral hood. The figure has faint ribs inscribed on both sides of the chest and also appears to be wearing a headdress or cap. The “ears” either side of the head are over large but could equally be part of the headdress. It’s worth comparing the headdress to those on the Ampney St Peter and Bredwardine figures as they both have a similar close fitting headdress.

The carving is made of Clunch being a form of gritty grey chalk. According to local historian A.R. West the stone is not native to the area which would mean either the stone was imported or the carving has come from elsewhere. It’s curious that it should be named after the material it was made from rather than the subject matter.

Easthorpe Church

The thorpe in Easthorpe is thought to derive from the Saxon word Thorp meaning hamlet or farm. In the time of Edward the confessor it was held by one Eadric a freeman. The Domesday book records the village as Estorp being held by Hugh an under-tennant of Count Eustace of Boulogne. The successors of Hugh held the village until the late 12th century when it was granted to the Gernon family. The church originally had a semicircular apse which was demolished in the 13th century. Much of the remaining fabric of the church is Norman and a number of windows still exist from that period. It’s difficult to say whether or not the sheela figure is an original part of the church. The carving is fairly small and highly portable and the material from which it is made is not local to the area. Other figurative carving on the church is in a different style and appears to be of a much later date. There are however fragments of dressed and molded stone work embedded in the outside walls of the church. It’s hard to say whether these came from an earlier incarnation of the church or elsewhere but the re-used round window would seem to suggest that fragments from other buildings have been incorporated into the building.

Some musings on ELUI

Though much has been written on the word ELUI carved on the side of the figure, the meaning of the word remains elusive. Here is some further speculation.

Romans they go the house – Is it Bad Latin?

The word elui is part of the conjugation of the latin verb eluo meaning to wash away as can be seen in the following quote from Cicero

“Animi labes nec diuturnitate vanescere nec omnibus ullis elui potest”
Mental stains can not be removed by time, nor washed away by any waters.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Legibus (II, 10)

If we take into account the theory that sheelas represent the sin of lust then a figure representing lust inscribed with an inscription commanding “wash away!” seems to make sense. i.e. Wash away your lustful thoughts. The only problem with this is that the imperative of eluo is eluta not elui so it would not seem to be a command. Easthorpe church. The round-headed doors and silm window on the right hand side of the picture are Norman and are made from re-used Roman bricks.

The Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary has the following entry for elui

II. Trop., to dispose of, remove, clear, or wash away, etc.: “ut centurionum profusus sanguis eluatur: num elui praedicatio crudelitatis potest?” Cic. Phil. 12, 6; cf.

This definition would seem to support the meaning of to dispose of/wash away/cleanse the sin of lust represented by this figure. Whether or not this 100% good Latin may well be beside the point (an example of an incorrect Latin inscription can be seen on the Iohannes Moridic stone at Llanhamlach) medieval latin scholarship was very variable. The person who requested the inscription may well have been educated enough to understand that the word means to wash away yet not use the correct form of the verb. It is also worth noting that the quote from Cicero above is used in the sense of “washing away sins” as well.

Caveat emptor

I am not a Latin scholar and I am not sure that the word “elui” would have been in use in the middle ages as it seems only to have been used in a classical context. The word however does appear in the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam 1466-1536 but he was noted for using a pure Latin style.

Carved plaster covered brick in the wall of the church
This avenue of inquiry seems to have some merit and I am surprised it has not been suggested before. If any Latin scholar would like to confirm this theory or indeed completely blow it out of the water I would be happy to hear from them.

Moulded plaster covered brick embedded in the wall of the church. The molding is still quite sharp which would seem to indicate it has not been exposed for that long. The church was renovated in 1910 so was this part of the renovation
Other meanings for Elui are:

A Hebrew September

The name Elui is also the Hebrew name given to the month of September. A medieval Romanized Hebrew inscription seems unlikely though.

Halleujah

Elui also forms the middle of Alleluia however the elui on our sheela seems to be complete with space enough left on the carving to represent the whole word.

Fragment of dressed stone embedded in church wall

Fragments of finely dressed stone work embedded in the church wall along with a re-used round window.

Museum Location

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Original Location

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Rochester

The Figure

The Rochester figure is quite difficult to find if you don’t know exactly where to look (see below). It can be found high on the western facade of Rochester Cathedral. To the left of the main door look up until you can see two small thin windows one above the other. Look down until you come to three arches. The figure lies in the middle arch.

The genital area has been probably been chipped away, this damage is unlikely to be due to erosion because of the positioning of area at the bottom of the carving. The figure is cracked as well lending further weight to the theory.. During the civil war the two main figures on the ornately carved chapter door inside were decapitated by Cromwell’s soldiers. So if the figure was originally exhibitionist it would undoubtedly have been be a target for puritan attention as well. Unusually the figure holds two fishes, this feature may well have parallels in the carvings of double tailed mermaids found elsewhere. which hold their tails in their hands. While we can not be sure that the Rochester figure was originally exhibitionist it seems likely due to the positioning of the damage. It is also worth noting that the figures either side of this one are also damaged and appear to be of birds. The lunette on the left holds what appears to be two birds eating what may be a fish while the other holds a single bird attacking or eating a snake like object.

In addition to the carvings outside the church there are also many “green men” on the roof bosses inside the church. I was informed that there were up to 23 of them in total.

There is a older black and white picture of the figure on Anthony Weir’s website here. It’s interesting to note that the damage underneath the figure appears to be fairly recent when you compare the pictures above to the one on Anthony’s website.

Some Fishy Conjecture

The most striking and puzzling aspect of this carving are the two fish in the figure’s hands. One fish is scaly and one is smooth, the right hand fish may be smooth due to weathering however this scaly fish/smooth fish motif can be found elsewhere. One of the corbels at Kilpeck represents two fish, one scaly one smooth both pointing in the same direction. Interestingly the fishes are not thought to represent Pisces as this was more usually represented as two fish swimming in opposite directions sometimes joined at the mouth by a line. The church at Cunault-sur-Loire in France has a carving of a mermaid or Siren holding two similar fishes one scaly one smooth, the scaly one being presented to a man in a boat (see left). The author of Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture (1896) Edward Payson Evans interprets the fish as “the soul being held in the grip of a libidinous passion”. This description would seem to be further evidence that the Rochester figure was once exhibitionist especially with the figures rudely protruding tongue further signifying sinfulness. However we must be careful not interpret the figure to favour our own interests. There are two other carvings on a capital in the crypt at nearby Canterbury Cathedral which also hold fish and are thought to date from the roughly the same period (around 1120 for the Canterbury figures while the West door of Rochester Cathedral dates from around 1150). One side of the capital has a pair of “jugglers”, one man holds the other above his head while the man being held has his legs in a splayed position and holds a fish and a bowl. On the other side of the capital there is a monstrous chimera of figure which has the winged body of lion and two heads one of which is human while the other atop a human torso is horned and tusked. The horned figure also holds a fish and bowl like the juggler figures. Stylistically there are similarities which seem to suggest they are from the same school of sculpture as the Rochester figure. The bearded head of the splayed juggler has a similar oblong appearance to the Rochester figure, both figures have over large hands and the feet are treated in a similar way. If the Rochester figure is from the same school of sculpture as Canterbury then this may be a pointer away from the figure being overtly exhibitionist. Despite there being a number of splay legged figures in the crypt none of them are explicitly exhibitionist. Even if the figure was not originally explicitly exhibitionist then the overall symbolism does seem to suggest a sexual meaning anyway.

So is this a Sheela Na Gig?

This page used to be titled The Rochester Sheela Na Gig in fact it is listed as such in Images of Lust and a number of other books. The Romanesque context is correct for a shela but it’s similarities to the crypt figures at Canterbury may mean that it was non exhibitionist. The relevant portion of the figure which would settle the argument is now missing so ultimately we are unable to decide either way. However it is interesting that only that portion of the figure is damaged rather than worn.

The position of the figure

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Grain

The Figure

The Grain figure has been reported quite a few times as a sheela na gig. When Keith Jones visited the site the local vicar told him the congregation wanted the figure moved as they considered it obscene. When I visited he was under the impression it was a pagan idol. What it actually is, is a fine example of a beard puller which is a common motif in Romanesque church carving (See Images of Lust or Anthony Weir’s website for other examples there is a good example of a mega-phallic beard puller in Santander Spain here). The figure is mistakenly referred to as a “Sheila-na-gig” here. One more example of the term fast coming to mean any anomalous or unusual church carving.

From Keith’s initial photographs there appeared to be faint knotwork or cross hatching in the space between the beard. When I actually visited the figure however I found this was not the case. The figure is very well carved with over long hands and a friendly expression. It has pointed ears and there appears to be some damage to the left hand. There is no other significant carving on the church although there are obvious indications on the walls of the church of a previous structure which appears to be at right angles to the current building. The chancel arch has some zig zag decoration on the pillars which may or may not be Norman but the chancel possesses two small round-headed Norman windows. The tower which appears to be Norman in fact only dates from the 1905. Strangely for a small country church there are no pews nor have there ever been any.

The figure can be found in the porch of St James, Grain in Kent (pictured below) above the main door. From its construction it appears to be a corbel (flat back and top) which has been moved to the porch from somewhere else. The door itself is interesting as it is thought to be very old. Damage on the door was caused by Dutch sailors in 1667 who attempted to break into the church with a view to looting it. The repair to the door was made by the same sailors who were caught and punished by their own officers for the attempted break in. The wood used to make the repair is thought to come from a Dutch man-o-war. Thanks go to the wife of the vicar who showed us round the church on a bitterly cold day. Interestingly she was not aware of the figure even though they had lived there for some time.

The Internet Mystery of The Grain Beard

Every year I get a burst of hits on this webpage from people searching for a “Grain Beard” which was very puzzling. After putting up a note on this page a number of people contacted me with the solution. It turns out that “Grain Beard” is a clue in a crossword book and it seems a syndicated crossword. The answer seems to be “Awn” so please look no further.

Location

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Eastry

The Figure

This figure has been recorded as a sheela na gig on the ADS archaeological search site here.
The photos and a lot of the information about this figure have been kindly supplied by Dr Stephen Bax of Canterbury Christ Church University.
The current church is Early English in style and was built in 1230 by the monks of Christ Church Abbey. It has a large tower, the top of which holds an extensive corbel table of mainly abstract designs. There are a number of loose pieces of sculpture cemented into the buttresses on the church including the alleged sheela na gig (left). The church is also famous as the location of a alleged picture of a ghost.

The figure is very worn but appears to be a bust with a cleft at the bottom. The cleft may simply be damage but Dr Bax who has seen the figure is of the opinion that it may have been carved. There may also be the remnants of an arm which reaches down one side but the figure is so worn it is very hard to be sure what exactly the “arm” is meant to be. The figure has a headdress or hood which is unusual for a sheela and a band around the neck possibly indicating clothing. The face has a rather glum expression and looks down. The head is large and seems disproportionate to the body. Even though the figure is worn it gives the impression of being female. It’s very hard to say that this figure is a proper Sheela Na Gig. There are no obvious genitals and the cleft, whether resulting from damage or being deliberately carved its only vaguely reminiscent of a vulva. The figure also appears to be clothed which further counts against it being a sheela, doubly so given the proximity of the neckline to the cleft. The church is Early English in design, not Romanesque. However we can’t read too much into this as another Early English church at Etton holds a far more convincing exhibitionist figure. All in all while the figure is interesting I would have to say I doubt this is a sheela na gig.

Thanks go to Dr Bax and Frances Hopkins for supplying these photographs of the figure and the church.
John Harding

The figure from below

Eastry Church

A worn human head possibly with a lop sided mouth. This motif can be seen on quite a few romanesque and later churches.

A worn carving possibly meant to be a lion (notice the worn mane like carving at the back of the figure)

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Devizes St John

The Figures

These figures were discovered by Dr Theresa Oakley and Dr Alex Woodcock who published their findings in the paper “The Romanesque Corbel Table at St John’s, Devizes and its Sheela na gig” (The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Volume 99 2006). The Sheela na gig of the title is one of a pair of exhibitionist figures on a corbel. This makes this corbel the third exhibitionist pair discovered so far in the UK, the other two being at Kirknewton and the window lintel at Whittlesford. There is some argument for the figures at Bredwardine being an exhibitionist pair as well, but the figures are damaged or worn and it is impossible now to tell for certain. This also applies to two figures recently discovered in Norfolk which also may have been exhibitionist.
Both of the Devizes figures are worn and damaged but a lot of detail still remains. The female’s lower right arm is missing and there is recent damage to the left arm which may have originally gestured towards the mouth or cheek (This gesture is similar to the Bredwardine figure and can be seen in many other Romanesque carvings.) The vulva is clearly visible and slightly exaggerated. Interestingly both the pudenda and the inner lips seem to be represented which is unusual.
The male figure is holding his damaged penis in his right hand and angles it away from the female figure, a small pair of testicles can just be determined between the legs. Both figures are angled slightly away from each. One can read too much into this but the male figures on both the Kirknewton and Whittlesford carvings seem to be very much interested in the female figure.
In addition to the exhibitionist pair the corbel table also holds an acrobatic monstrous anus shower. This has a bestial face and holds its legs in the exposing a deeply carved anus. Intriguingly in the photo below there appears to be a suggestion of a possible vulva above the anus making the figure female. Again we should be careful of reading to much into this.
There are many other monstrous corbels including one with a monster devouring a human figure head first with only the legs visible and a pair of human figures hugging each other inside a monsters mouth.
Given that a lot of newly discovered figures are equivocal it’s good to see a new discovery that are unambiguous exhibitionists. For those interested Dr Oakley’s Phd. thesis on Sheela na gigs will be published soon as a British Archaeological Report and Dr Woodcock’s paper “Liminal Images. Aspects of Medieval Architectural Sculpture in the South of England from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth centuries” is already available.

There is another exhibitionist figure which is widely regarded as a fake held at the museum in Devizes

The underside view of the exhibitionist pair. Both the pudenda and inner lips are depicted which is unusual.

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Studland

The Figures

St Nicholas church, Studland is something of a neglected treasure house of romanesque carving. It lies on the Dorset coast in the Isle of Purbeck.

The Studland Sheela is mentioned in passing in Images of Lust (page 117) but other than that there is very little mention of the figure in Sheela literature. A local guide book to the village of Studland mentions that there has not been much research into the corbel table of the church despite the richness of the carvings. The style of the carving on the corbel table is very much like that of Stoke Sub Hamdon even including some truly abstract figures. The figure has the left hand holding open an grossly exaggerated vulva with a clearly defined clitoral hood. The right hand is also exaggerated and it’s execution makes it look more like a fin than hand (you can see this jutting out on the left hand side of the photo). It has no body to speak of, a badly worn face is directly joined to a pair of legs and the vulva. The adjacent figure gives you some idea of how it might have looked when new. Near the sheela there is also an acrobatic figure which could also be a less obvious exhibitionist. the figures upside down head is placed between it’s knees the while the whole body is bent backwards. Between the legs there appears to be a suggestion of a vulva complete with clitoral hood, this is however open to interpretation. On the other side of the church a pair of lovers embrace and appear to be enaged in intercourse. Another figure on the corbel table has been identified as broken megaphallic male by Malcolm Thurlby ¹. The penis is now missing but the gigantic testicles can still be seen. It’s well worth paying careful attention to the figures as a few are not always what they seem to be, an abstract pattern on closer inspection becomes the head of two grimacing monsters. The carving on the church on the whole is well executed if now a little worn. It’s surprising that more research into the church has not been done as while it’s corbel table may not be as well preserved as Kilpeck the richness of the carving rivals that famous church.

The figures face is only visible in subdued lighting

A view of the Studland sheela with the crudely carved face clearly visible. On a previous visit during a bright summer day the face invisible as can be seen from the photo aProceedings of the Dorset N.H. and A.F. Clubbove. Its also interesting to note that the article below from the Proceedings of the Dorset N.H. and A.F. Club also shows the figure as faceless. The picture to the left was taken on an overcast winters day and the face was clearly visible.

Victorian bowdlerised version of the sheela na gig

This figure appears in a somewhat abstract form in A Study on the Work of Preservation of the Church of St Nicholas, Studland, Dorset from the Proceedings of the Dorset N.H. and A.F. Club Vol. XII. 1891 as can be seen below. It interesting to note that the figure has not undergone the usual Victorian bowdlerisation prevalent in many studies of the period. A PDF copy of this report can be downloaded from Dr Colin Parsons site on the church here.

Proceedings of the Dorset N.H. and A.F. Club

The Sheela with adjacent figure. The adjacent figure may be playing a rote, a type of lyre. This would seem likely as musicians are often found on corbel tables. There is a sculpture of an ass playing a rote in Oakham castle where the instrument is depicted in a similar blocky manner ². The nearby church of Worth Matravers also holds a rote playing figure on the corbel table the body is more awkwardly twisted than the example on Studland.

Adjacent acrobatic figure possibly another exhibitionist i.e. the clitoral hood is directly above the head.

This figure has been identified as a broken phallic male by Malcolm Thurlby and Anthony Weir. At first I was somewhat doubtful of this interpretation but as you can see from the photograph it is indeed a broken megaphallic male.The hands can be seen still grasping the grossly enlarged base of the penis the remnants of which can still just be made out under the encrustation of lichen. It’s interesting to note that both the male and female figure on the church are exaggerated or megaphallic and megavulvic respectively

Abstract Corbel (compare to Stoke Sub Hamdon figures)

The Lovers. This corbel, while not overtly exhibitionist does seem to represent a couple having intercourse. It’s worth comparing these figures to the lovers at Kilpeck which are more chaste in their embrace.

1. The Romanesque Church of St Nicholas, Studland (Dorset)”, Malcom Thurlby and Karen Lundren in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society.
2. Art and Patronage in the English Romanesque. Sarah Macready Ed. and F.H. Thompson Ed. page 103

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Wimborne

The Church

Wimborne Minster
A religious building of some type has existed in Wimborne since the beginning of the 8th century. The present church is a mixture of styles but many of the interior arches and much of the central tower dates from 12th-13th Century. Thee Minster has a number of Romanesque/Transition Period carvings and arches. These combine both features of Romanesque and Early English architecture and decoration as can be seen below. The church has a number of fine carvings above the arches which appear Romanesque in style.

The Figures

The Male exhibitionist corbel
This figure was found by Rachael Harding on a trip to Wimborne Minster in January 2009. No one in the church seemed to know about which is unsurprising as the exhibitionist details can only be found with telephoto lens or binoculars. The figure is holding a broken object in the right hard while the left holds a what appears to be a piece of cloth to its mouth. The figure also has a pair of stubby legs and a modest penis and testicles. This and the acrobat corbel are set high in the rafters to the right of the main entrance to the church. Their position, flush with the roof would seem to indicate that the corbels were originally moved from elsewhere.
Another damaged male exhibitionist (along with a female figure) exists in Dorset at Studland.

Acrobat corbel high in the rafters

Wimborne Arches — Transitional Arches at Wimborne combining pointed EarlyEnglish/Gothic arches with Romanesque chevron ornament. The sculpture adorning the arches is very much Romanesque in style.

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Southern England

Easthorpe

Easthorpe Church

Some musings on ELUI

Romans they go the house – Is it Bad Latin?

Caveat emptor

A Hebrew September

Halleujah

Museum Location

Original Location

Rochester

The Figure

Some Fishy Conjecture

So is this a Sheela Na Gig?

Location

Grain

The Figure

The Internet Mystery of The Grain Beard

Location

Eastry

The Figure

Location

Devizes St John

The Figures

Location

Studland

The Figures

Location

Wimborne

The Church

The Figures

Location

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