Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Romanesque Capitals of St Kyneburgha's Church, Castor, and the Local Landscape

Kilby, Susan

Abstract

Situated at the heart of an early twelfth-century rural Northamptonshire church-St Kyneburgha's church in Castor-a beautiful set of Romanesque capitals depicts an array of creatures, encompassing both the natural and supernatural worlds. This paper attempts to identify the inspiration behind elements of the scheme, to assess the myriad ways in which it might be interpreted, and to place it firmly within its landscape context. Traditional readings of the images, largely inspired by scripture, are assessed alongside supplementary interpretations found within didactic texts, in particular Isidore of Seville's Etymologia, one of the key texts on animal lore in this period. These readings are then set against the expectations and experiences of local people in the surrounding landscape, both during and preceding the time the capitals were constructed, as elucidated in contemporary written texts. Minor landscape names created by local peasants provide further evidence that the iconography was to some extent chosen to reflect its landscape setting. Taken together, the evidence allows us an insight into how one early twelfth-century rural community perceived its environment. It is suggested that elements of the scheme operate on a number of levels. It was-in part, at least-designed to remind locals that the demonic and ungodly could be found within commonplace spaces, and that those commonplace spaces were recognizable as the environment immediately outside the church door, in the fields, meadows and woodlands of medieval Castor. The parish church is venerated as one of England's most celebrated buildings, and as such it has become as much a potent symbol of the English landscape as it is a representation of religious faith. Assessing ecclesiastical ornamentation within the post-Conquest English parish church, it is possible to identify symbolic representations of the demonic and ungodly in a number of guises. In itself, this is nothing new. Through the study of a set of early twelfth-century capitals in Castor in rural Northamptonshire, this paper attempts to place the

Citation

Kilby, S. (2019). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the Romanesque Capitals of St Kyneburgha's Church, Castor, and the Local Landscape. Church Archaeology, 19, 53-72. https://doi.org/10.5284/1081985

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 6, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 30, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 14, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Print ISSN: 1366-8129
• Publisher: Society for Church Archaeology
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Pages: 53-72
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5284/1081985
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2050236
• Publisher URL: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3238496
• Related Public URLs: https://www.churcharchaeology.org/journal
• Additional Information: Article available CCBY from the Archaeology Data Service library, through a generous grant from the Marc Fitch Fund (https://www.churcharchaeology.org/journal)