South Doorway, St Edith's Church

This carved Norman doorway was renovated in 1859. Some of the original (dark grey) symbols were replaced. It isn't known whether they were copied exactly or whether artistic licence was used. But there is enough remaining to exercise the imagination.

My wife plays the part of the Rector here. To this day he uses his long pointer to identify features of interest to visitors. He continues a tradition that saw such representations as an opportunity to teach at a time when books were not generally available.

It isn't easy to get an explanation of the old, pagan symbolism. But we do have an expert in such matters who lives close by who has studied this doorway and promises to publish something in the near future.

Meanwhile we can speculate. As I do!