Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal SeeEley, C. King
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See
Eley, C. King
Carlisle Cathedral (Carlisle, England)
At the junctions of the arches are small grotesque heads very well
executed. On the north side, where the presbytery begins, is a queen's
head, and on the opposite side a figure with a dog's head.
There are altogether fourteen complete, and two half piers, the capitals
of which are carved with foliage alone, or with the addition of winged
monsters, birds, beasts, and human figures. Twelve of them represent the
domestic and agricultural occupations of the months. The first capital
on the south side (east end) shows a creature with a man's head, wings,
and a tail terminating in the head of a serpent, which bites the monster
on the temple. January is symbolised on the next one, and the series
continues westward, then crosses over, and proceeds from west to east on
the north side, finishing at the last pier but one.
_January._--A figure in a loose-fitting tunic, sitting down. He has
three faces--two in profile--and is drinking with the right and left
mouths. At his feet is a third vessel.
_February._--A man in a loose tunic, and head closely wrapped up. He
appears to suffer from cold, for his face is woe-begone, and he is
sitting over a fire, holding out one boot upside down as if to drain
water from it, while he lifts up one foot to catch the heat. The
fireplace is very skilfully carved.
_March._--A man, hood on head, digging with a spade at the foot of a
leafless tree. Other decorations are, a squirrel, a bear with hands,
birds, and a beast's body with a mitred head.
_April._--A bare-legged man with his head tied up, pruning a tree. On
this capital are also two figures half-human, half-bestial, clasping
each other round the neck.
[Illustration: ONE BAY OF THE CHOIR.]
_May._--A woman in a long gown holding in each hand a bunch of foliage,
which she offers to a young man clad in a tunic, with his hood thrown
back. In addition there are three winged beasts with human heads, one
mitred.
_June._--A horseman, bareheaded, holding on his right hand a hawk, and
bearing a branch of roses in his left hand. There are also some
half-human figures, and men playing musical instruments. This capital is
more elaborately carved than any of the others.
_July._--A man mowing. In addition there are owls carrying mice in their
mouths.
_August._--A man working in a wheat-field. He wears a conical hat, and
grasps a crutch with one hand while he holds a pruning hook in the
other.
_September._--A man reaping with a sickle.
_October._--A man whose head is tied with a handkerchief; he is engaged
in cutting grapes. A fox carrying off a goose is also vigorously carved
on this capital.
_November._--A man sowing grain from a basket. There is a stag on his
right and a horse on his left hand.
_December._--A man wearing a loose tunic, who is about to fell an ox
which another man holds by the horns. In addition there is a man tending
swine.
The last capital shows several heads, and a man sitting on a tree stump.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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