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Celtic Stone Heads

There are some remarkable stone heads on the corbels of All Saints church, Kilham. This church is very definitely on a pre-christian site. No pictures on the web and I can't get up there to photograph them myself
 
stonedoggy said:
good update AND a photo... happy happy!

does it continue on adjacent stones?
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No the carving is confined to just one stone. It looks as if it should be part of a larger composition because there are parts that are cut off at the edges. Either it could have been cut out of a bigger carving when it was stolen or, if it was made last century, it could be that the design was traced from a brass rubbing and the top of the figures shield was left in.

There are quite a lot of different heads on St Anne's church, some more grotusque than the one pictured. The Methodist church across the valley also has carved heads but they are more obviously Victorian and "saintly". There are some fun details like stone birds building nests in the door capitals though.
 
Did you get an idea of the date range there Austen?


Kath
 
stonedoggy said:
Did you get an idea of the date range there Austen?


Kath
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There are actually some dates given a the bottom of the page, but if I was putting my professional architectural historian hat on then I'd say most of them resemble the secular carvings of the sixteenth/seventeenth century - Tudor/Jacobean if you were on this side of the channel. I could believe some, like the "Tinjan / Antignana" example, are early medieaval (C11th-12th?). It isn't easy to say without knowing the wider context or specialised knowledge of central European carving.
I shall have to dig out my photos of church carvings in Lincolnshire and post some here. There is a "Trinity" head (three noses, four eyes) at one of them.
 
Trinities are one of those things that start coming out of the woodwork when you start looking.

I may have found one in the blacader chapel in St mungo's cathedral here in glasgow - trying to get the VQ in there for a second opinion as it's hidden undr paint.

There's one in Elgin too...


we agree on the dates by the way - really I was trying to rule early medieval in or out as a possibility.... unless anyone wants to differ?

I'm also looking for further references.

I know, want want want, need need need, gimmie gimmie gimme!;)

Kath
 
Eburacum45 said:
Some stuff about these heads and an example or two in the museum at Skipton...
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I visited Skipton Museum yesterday (on an unrelated search) and saw the carved head. I couldn't get a decent photograph as it's locked inside a glass-fronted cabinet, so I bought a post-card of it!
It was discovered in Earby, I think. Here's the scanned image;-
 
Trinity

This carving is in a church in Lincolnshire - I can't remeber which one though - it could be Newark. I think Kath wanted to see pictute of Trinities.
 
I thought people might like to see this from Sunyhurst Woods in Darwen. It is more of a Renaissance grotesque than a Green Man or a Celtic head, but I think it is at home here!
 
I don't know if she was the originator of the celtic heads 'theory' but she has a whole chapter about it in her book 'Pagan Celtic Britain' (Anne Ross, 1967) - it's quite a 'scholarly' book, not some new age rehash :)
 
Face to face with the oldest head!

A retired fisherman has discovered an ancient stone head that experts say could be 24,000 years old — the oldest found in Britain.

Arthur Mack, 70, found the 5in stone head while he was walking off Long Island in Langstone Harbour, Hampshire. Archaeologists say the find could be a piece of Neanderthal art made by cave dwellers who were once thought too primitive for creative thinking. A similar stone head was found in a Neanderthal cave in northern France and was dated to 28,000BC.

The ancient stone would have been carved into a face by a caveman thousands of years ago. Mr Mack, of Portsmouth, said: “There was a face poking out of the cliffs in some mud and it scared the living daylights out of me. I think the tide must have exposed it.

“I have found stone flints and axe heads before but nothing like this. It is a work of art and shows how much skill these ancient civilisations had."
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Source: The Times, 02/10/2004
 
Just scanned a copy of the photograph from today's Times. Here it is:-

Screen Shot 2017-07-08 at 00.10.17.png


Original photo linked into this post is lost. Here's the same Times photo, cross-linked from elsewhere on the forum.
 
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It looks like a face- but it also looks naturally produced to me, a chance breaking up of the layers in the stone.
 
For many years, there were two 'Celtic Stone Heads' at the Pendle Heritage Centre, Lancashire. Apparently they were located within or near the entrance.

In approx. 1994, the Daily Mirror (I think) ran a story about the heads and the article was featured in the Glider Pilot Magazine.

A Nelson (Lancs.) resident (my uncle, now deceased), Mr. Ted Ridings, visited the Pendle Heritage Centre, saw the Celtic Stone Heads, and advised the curator the heads (described as being many thousands of years old) had in fact been carved by his younger brother Leslie Ridings, shortly prior to WW2.

Leslie Ridings was studying architecture at the time and had whittled the heads during his lunch breaks as part of a study-assignment. The heads were intended as stone caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini. During the war years, the heads were shown at various dances, etc. to raise money for the war effort.

Leslie became a member of the Glider Pilot Regiment and was killed in Normandy on D-Day. After the war, Leslie's parents moved into another house (the one in which I grew up). My grandparents never really recovered from their son's death. They were quite elderly and at some point, the stone heads were buried in the backyard; probably by my grandfather. It's reasonable to assume he didn't want to throw them away because of their links with Leslie's youth, nor were they the sort of item you'd display in a cottage filled with lacework and pretty ornaments.

My grandparents had both died by 1968 and their house was sold. At some point, the new owners obviously had reason to dig in the backyard; at which point they discovered the stone heads.

The heads were adjudged to be classic 'Celtic Stone Heads' of considerable antiquity and were eventually obtained by the Pendle Heritage Centre, where they were displayed for many years.

No doubt the heads would have continued to be regarded as Celtic Stone Heads, had not Leslie's brother Ted not paid a visit to the Centre. After being advised of the heads true origin, the heads were apparently removed from display by the Centre.

Obviously difficult to accurately date this type of object. The Daily Mirror carried a photograph of the heads. I have it somewhere. Even though they were intended to portray Hitler and Mussolini, they appear uncannily similar to genuine Celtic Heads.
 
More vandalism at ancient sites...

There were three carved heads, partly submerged, in the old holy well at Eshton, near Skipton (St Helen's Well).

I'd heard from a mate in Skipton several months back, he said the place had been trashed and the heads stolen. We went to check it out today, seems like the bastards have nicked 'em.

We spoke to the local gamekeeper (surprisingly friendly and helpful) who told us that the place had been vandalised about 12 months ago, the stone heads were taken then. Apparently they came from an old church nearby that was largely destroyed by fire.
We noticed a very odd looking piece of masonry there that looked distinctly 'church-like', it also had vague head-like carvings under the moss that covered it.

It was a very peaceful spot. If you're ever in the vicinity, it's worth a visit.
 
That stone head Arthur Mack found... it's got 'simulacrum' all over it, in my opinion. I hope I'm wrong, though. How did the archaeologists date it so conclusively? Are there signs of it being worked by hand? The features look a bit too well defined, to me... I'd expect it to be a bit more rounded off and 'weathered'.:confused: Oh, I dunno.

*goes to pub to think*
 
I spotted ‘weird face’ carved into hunk of stone I pulled from old drain & kept it - then I found out it’s worth £5,000

A WOMAN was left in shock when a hunk of stone with a "weird face" carved on was valued at £5,000.

The unnamed individual unearthed the item whilst digging by the drains in her garden.

antiques-roadshow-guest-left-shock-897468879_b89395.jpg


She decided to apply to be on BBC's Antiques Roadshow to present the mysterious artefact to valuer Adam Schoon, who was left stunned at a stone head. The whizz went onto affirm that he believed the stone was of "Celtic style".

If she were to take it to auction, Adam expected it to command an impressive £5,000.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/27613059/face-carved-stone-its-worth-5000/

maximus otter
 
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