Norfolk Gargoyles - 4 - Lynn
Norfolk Gargoyles - 4 - Lynn
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This is the big twin towered church south of the shopping centre. A fair number of gargoyles, some weathered some good some replaced and one remarkable double - one figure riding the back of a smaller, partly replaced. Most of them are very high up and, shock horror, not enough grave stones to steady the camera on. You do get a lot of strange looks and ribald comments from the pub opposite when you lie flat on your back in the car park, wedging the camera hard against your head on the ground, trying to steady it, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices.
It is a truly massive church of two towers and many ages of stonework. The back end seems to have had a fair amount of repair and replacement. There's new stone and old very weathered window carving here and there, and a curious 3-star or 3-flower or symbols pattern cut into one of the buttressy bits at the back - obviously symbolic of something - but no matching opposite number. The right hand tower (looking from in front of them) looks much more weathered and lacks gargoyles though it has a few flat U shaped tapered channels for drainage (same style as Oxborough Hall and many others). Tucked away from the main part of town these days, though the roars from the pub nearby at every Cup Final goal made it seem nearer the hub of things. A mixture of old and new that seems to characterise Lynn somehow, can't quite love it but can have a fondness for bits of it... especially the wall gargoyles on the front. Photos 12may2001 (800ASA, 28-200mm & 600mmlens)
Anyway, without further ado here's the church.
And starting from the left hand side of the left hand tower, working our way round widdershins, here is the first batch of gargoyles left hand tower:
On the front (west) far to the left of the main door is what looks to me like a tired old woman or maybe man supporting a buttressy column. Then the right hand one of the faces either side of the door. To the right of the main door high up but in plain view is a woman (shouting?) supporting a small man - there has to be symbolism in this.
You can see the positions of these from the following views (if you squint closely and use some imagination, the uncompressed full size versions of these were far too big to put on a webpage) :
Now for the right hand tower which is fairly gargoyle free bar these stubby ones, it has mainly rainwater troughs rather than carvings:
Back to the left hand tower, this time the right hand and back sides:
If you're keen on knowing the positions of the gargoyles on the left hand tower then try these views but skip then if you're not, they're about 80kb each:
Finally, that strange wheel marking I mentioned before, tucked away at the far back of the church and easily missed:
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Flint cottage with one stunning gargoyle and a smaller inconspicuous one. The flintwork itself is stunning too and shows just what can be done with flint if you put your mind to it. This is just north of the Hardwick Estate. The only downsides are a TV aerial on top which is understandable but spoils the nightmarish Gothic effect and an unfriendly owner who is very keen on you not even thinking about stepping onto the entrance to the cemetery which he alleges is his driveway. Photos 12 may 01. 800ASA 28-200mm & 600mm
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This is the single towered church north west of the shopping centre. A fair number of grotesques, some demonic. It has a couple of interesting features like the ancient wooden main door, grotesques on statue plinths and a curious, nay seriously weird, small bit of moat around some massive doors on the right hand corner (right when looking at the front entrance) - why? what on Earth's it for? Who in heavens name would put a moat just there? What possessed some topographically challenged, presumably uncertified-insane architect to put a pair of massive doors opening to the outside below ground? and then surround them by a moat?
Good grief, I only started this gargoyle game for a bit of a lark and a play with a website, and now I'm spotting and puzzling over and getting overexcited about odd architectural features of buildings... where will it end? In pedantry and dotage? Some sad git wandering round saying "Oh yes, well that of course is the classic overhead Exocet sub-corbel with foliate transverse ornation in the penguin style, worked by Mr Alouicious Scrubsbottom in the morning after a long night in the "Pig And Sheepsbladder", on a Tuesday if I'm not mistaken, oh yes". I do hope not. Anyway, there are various interesting heads and gargoyley things scattered about, the heads being more interesting and some more gargoyley than the gargoyles themselves. And those very old looking and weathered ornately carved front doors? From the Umpteenth Century, if I'm not mistaken. Photos 21jun2002, 28-200mm 400ASA.
Here is a small head not tucked away but difficult to spot on a corner of the church.
Here is the side door which has grotesques on the empty statue plinths.
Finally and bizarrely, the door to the right of the main door which has a MOAT around it. Really, I ask you.
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