A very rude gargoyle!
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
August 2, 2019 5:50pm CST
Gargoyles are stone carvings found on many medieval buildings such as churches and cathedrals. They are disguised water spouts, the purpose of which is take rainwater away from the walls so that it does not run down them and cause problems by wearing the stonework away.
They are often imaginative carvings of the heads of people, animals or mythical beasts, carved so that the water gushes out from their mouths.
However, in the example pictured here (the gargoyle on the left), the water will gush from a very different orifice!
This is on the tower of All Saints Church, Easton on the Hill, Northamptonshire. The church was originally built during the 12th century, but the tower dates from a few centuries later.
One has to wonder how the medieval stonemason, with a particularly wicked sense of humour, was able to get away with it. Could it be that nobody actually noticed until it was too late to do anything about it? Or did the parish priest get the joke and approve of it?
4 people like this
5 responses
@Torunn (8606)
• Norway
3 Aug 19
I passed a similar one yesterday. It's an old one from the cathedral here, when they replaced it they placed some of the gargoyles so that people can see them. The rear end is of course placed so that's the first thing you see. Didn't get a picture of it though.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
3 Aug 19
with mortality being what it was,they probably had a slightly better sense of humor back then.i'm sure they probably saw worse things in public back then.
..or a priest didn't look up..
1 person likes this
In my opinion nobody noticed until it was too late.
