Cresset Stone, Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore |
Cresset Stone
74, Cannon Grove,
FETCHAM, Surrey.
28th July, 1973.
Dear Rev. Knott,
Having now returned from my
expedition into Essex I would firstly like to thank you for your help and
co-operation on the occasion of my visit to see your cresset stone at Blackmore.
Secondly, I set out below my conclusions as promised, not forgetting that I
promised you a copy of any future article.
I believe the cresset to be
14th century and not Norman. Although hitherto described as being of Norman
capital form, the top surface, as viewed through your show case, suggested the
later date, taking into account the overall design, the well pronounced rims to
the cups, the tooling, and the handles. It closely resembles a 14th century
cresset now in the City museum, Winchester.
It was then thought possible
that the 14th century cresset maker had reused a redundant Norman capital from
your original church. However, now that it has been possible to remove the
stone from the case and actually see the underside, this belief can no longer
be held.
The sculpture of the underside
is undoubtedly of Gothic rather than Romanesque form. The outer four cups are
scooped into the 'mouths of 'cones’ sculpted out from a central core of stone,
tapering away from the cup to the base. Had this been in the Norman Romanesque
style the cones or Scallops would have descended in a direct formal arrangement
to the base, as is well seen on so many Norman capitals. The sculpture on your
cresset, however, does no such thing. From the springing at the base, each
scallop takes a beautiful sweeping form round to the right, so that all four
spiral round the stone. This is a Gothic theme. In the 13th century the
straight scallops of the Normans were twisted sideways and usually carved into
"stiff leaf" foliage. In the 14th century this became much more
pronounced. Such dates are of course only a rough guide. I believe the
spiralling sculpture on your cresset dates from this time. Although
well-carved, it is not especially fine, although it would seem to be the finest
cresset stone in the country of this type. It is of interest that the carver chose
this spiralling motif for an item to be seen so often in flickering flame
light. This would be appropriate and also very effective.
I hope this information will
be of interest to you. Please write if I can be of further assistance in any
way. Should you write to Winchester I ought to point out that they have a
second plain cresset also, and so do make it clear which one you are talking
about!
Yours sincerely,
[Signed: Christopher Hawkins]
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