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We are quite lucky in Ludlow to have a very impressive Parish Church – St Laurence, which is so big that it can be seen from miles around and is known as ‘The Cathedral of the Marches’. Now none of this has to do with the letter X, but inside the church you can find twenty eight misericords dating from the XV century.

Now I don’t propose to show you all 28, but here are a few of my favourites.

St Laurence’s Church has twenty eight misericords in the choir stalls which are of a quality usually associated with great cathedrals such as Worcester or Gloucester.

Carved on the underside of the hinged choir seats each misericord is fashioned from a piece of timber some 26 inches (660 mm) long, 12 inches (300 mm) deep and 6 inches (150 mm) thick.

The misericords have a wide variety of themes and with Ludlow then being a royal stronghold there is a royal influence shown in a number of misericords. Wikipedia


The header misericord is N4 – a mermaid holding a mirror in her right hand, a comb missing from her left. Two dolphins flank her.
remembering the witchcraft trials
http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/witchcraft-trial/
I realize the XV century wasn’t nice for everyone…
It certainly wasn’t Frizz – “no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition”
These are fascinating, Jude. I could have quite happily looked at all 28. 🙂
Thanks Sylvia – unfortunately not all 28 came out very well, though I do have a few more which are OK. I will have to go back and try again – the light is not good in the choir stalls and at the moment they have scaffolding up at several of the windows so that makes it harder. Maybe I should try flash, but I’m never happy with using flash.
You are so resourceful, Jude! 🙂
They are really beautiful, aren’t they? There are some carvings under the choir seats in the chapel at Durham University but nothing so elaborate as these (and photos were forbidden so I sneaked a couple but it wasn’t easy!)