Lectures

2nd October 2019: v

On Wednesday 2 nd October 2019, for the first meeting of the 2019/20 season, Wye Historical Society welcomed back Imogen Corrigan, who talked about "The Green Man in English Churches". These carved images only became known as "green men" in 1939 when the phrase was coined by Lady Raglan, a noted folklorist; their correct name is "foliate heads". Over the 20th century the idea spread that they were pagan fertility symbols and they have become mixed up with the Green Man/Jack-in- the-Green figures prevalent in folklore.

Carved images of the Green Man in stone and wood appear in medieval churches all over Europe. Imogen Corrigan has visited approximately 800 churches in England and found 1,176 examples in 387 of them. Around 8%-10% of churches in England have them and some contain several examples; they are found in every Cathedral built before the reformation. Not many are coloured green; the predominant colours, if any remains at all, are gold and red.

The two main types of head are 'disgorgers', where foliage emerges from the figure's mouth, and 'transformers', where the face transforms into foliage. They are usually just a disembodied head but occasionally you also see the torso, e.g. at Elstow Abbey in Bedfordshire where the foliage emerges from the ears, or the whole body, e.g. on the choir stalls at Winchester Cathedral. Some examples from before 1200 have clear Scandinavian influence in their design. Female heads are rare - one example is at Dennington in Suffolk where the lady is disgorging peonies - but around a third of the time it’s not clear whether the figure is male, female or monster. The foliage is usually stylised but sometimes recognisable flora such as oak leaves, hawthorn, ivy or vine. Occasionally other imagery is used, such as snakes, dolphins or mermen (at Crowcombe in Somerset). Two thirds of the carvings are found inside buildings and early examples are often at eye level, e.g. on chancel arches, doorways and crossing points. From 1350 they are commonly used as roof bosses, and would have been covered in gold leaf. Similar images are found in illuminated manuscripts such as the Ramsey Psalter, the Book of Kells, and in the margins of the Luttrell Psalter. However, the only design drawings we have for the stone carvings are from Villard de Honnecourt who was working in Rheims around 1260.

Although these images originated in the pagan era, along with angels, they have been appropriated by the Church to tell a Christian story. It is noteworthy that the foliage is always alive, so it’s probable that they serve as some kind of resurrection symbol. Indeed, there was a renewal of interest in using these images in the 14 th century around the time of the Black Death, and there are 48 recorded green men on tombs and memorials - an early example is the Tomb of St Abre in Poitiers c360.

Ellie Morris