St Wilfrids church possesses a striking feature of a western porch adorned with interesting carvings, which I would estimate come from the early part of the 12th century. These represent a very widespread tradition: the floor of the Cathedral of Otranto in Southern Italy has similar Norman representations on the months of the year: though possibly our stones represent rural occupations through the year, rather than a formal series assigning different tasks to each month: similar scenes are found in twelve month panels on the sides of a Norman font at Burnham Deepdale in Norfolk.
Descriptions of the Carvings
This stone is in the outer face of the north wall of the tower, near the ground, and is so weather-worn and generally damaged that you can hardly make out what it is meant to be. It appears to be two men dancing (with pigs bladders on sticks?) They wear kilts, like all the men represented. This is probably a May Day scene: it is very worn through having been on an outside wall for many years.
Threshing
Reaper
Threshing
A man hoeing (June).
A man prunes a vine with a large knife (April)
A man in hooded cloak and sleeved jacket
This stone is on its side
A man seated at a trestle table
At the top of the stairs
A similar series of figures to these may be seen at Burnham Deepdale, in Norfolk, and at Brooklands, in Kent. This page originally appeared on the official web site for St Wilfrids Church, Calverton. I have reproduced it purely for archive and educational reasons.
