Churches

St Agnes, Cawston

First appeared in Let's Talk! Norfolk, August 2004

Rare carving - but is this dragon a symbol of wifely disobedience or womanly devotion?

EVERY picture, and every carving, tells a story. Our parish churches were filled, in medieval times, with pictures of many kinds. Those that have survived the Reformation, the puritans and the common ravages of time still have a tale to tell. It is not always easy, though, to tell exactly what the story is.

Take this lively 15th century carving on a bench-end in St Agnes's church in the village of Cawston, 12 miles north of Norwich.

It's clearly a dragon, and though part of the figure has broken off, it appears to be devouring a person. What can this mean?

It has been suggested that the dragon is a rare image of a mythical beast called the Bigorne. In French folklore, the Bigorne was a monster that grew fat devouring henpecked husbands. Its mate, Chichevache, fed on obedient wives and always went hungry.

Sexist it may be, and a long way from anything in the Bible, but the story was well enough known to be referred to in Chaucer. It could be it was used in sermons that might have inspired the Cawston carver.

Cawston's rather severe late 14th century tower stands 120ft tall - a landmark for many miles around

But there is another, perhaps more likely, possibility - which also has its roots in France .

The tale went that for 21 years a female dragon named Tarasque terrorised a town on the river Rhone . Many heroes died trying in vain to kill her - until St Martha arrived from Palestine in the year 48AD. Finding the dragon in the act of eating a child, the saint subdued her with a jar of holy water and the power of the cross. So what men could not do with violence, a woman did with faith.

The town, now known as Tarascon, has a double reason to be grateful to Martha. It owed its considerable wealth in medieval times to the pilgrims who travelled to her supposed tomb and the 12th century church which housed it.

It may even be that one of the benefactors of Cawston church made that pilgrimage and saw St Martha's emblem - a dragon with a child in its mouth. The symbol, rare in England , is common in Provence.

Another popular medieval legend is remembered on Cawston's glorious 15th century roodscreen.

The screen, one of the best in England, has superbly preserved paintings of the 12 apostles, the learned saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory - and one Englishman, who although popularly regarded as a saint was never officially canonised.

John Schorne was rector of the parish of North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, from 1290 to 1315. It was said that during a drought he started a spring by striking the earth with his staff.

The spring became a holy well and another site of pilgrimage.

Somehow, the tale arose that John Schorne could "conjure the Devil in and out of his boot". This explains why several pubs in Buckinghamshire, and on the pilgrim routes there, are still called The Boot. And it led to people praying to John Schorne for relief from gout - which may explain his presence on the Cawston screen.

Screen savers: iconoclasts in the 16th or 17th century took more exception to the non-canonical John Schorne (right), obliterating his face and the boot in his hand. By contrast, saints Simon, Matthew (in glasses) and Matthias are wonderfully preserved

Wonderful woodwork: Among its other attractions, Cawston church has one of East Anglia's best angel roofs - and a very fine rood screen