Dogs - capturing the Spirit in Stone 1

One of the most interesting discoveries at Iford Manor was two Dog statues. They were seriously large works of art, being much taller than me. The first is posed with its head raised as if looking up at its master. The expression is one of devotion. Lichen, like with so many items I have seen in recent months, is establishing itself and beginning to grow across the animal's face.

A Curious Encounter in a Somerset Graveyard

It was one of those rare occurences in a graveyard, the feeling of being watched. Normally it turns out to be the graveyard cat or a concerned churchwarden who has received a tip-off about a strange person who keeps lying on the ground next to graves. On this occasion, it was was neither. I was engaged in capturing an image of a headstone [the 104th of the brief visit I was making to discover new material to share with you, the readers of this blog] and as I moved away, I saw a brief movement in the corner of my eye. Did someone or something wink at me?

I was almost struck dumb as I realised the flowers carved on the stone had faces. Now the Victorian stone mason may have been displaying that he had a sense of humour or I might have been imaging things and . . . as someone remarked on this blog before, it had nothing to do with 'Chardonnay' - I am Temperance!

Photographs were duly taken and scrutinised once downloaded to my laptop. There is, in my mind, absolutely no doubt these are faces and I was minded to recall the popular 1950s childrens television programme - The Flowerpot Men. Bill and Ben were the names of the two characters who lived by the potting shed. Their friend, I kid you not, was Little Weed - a weed in a pot - who was prone to shouting in a high-pitched voice 'Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!!!!'

Phew, that's enough reminiscing, but could the character of Little Weed have been inspired by the flower faces on this headstone? Let me know what you think? I doubt there are other examples of this unless, dear readers, you know otherwise?


The flower above has a smiling face, while the one below looks very glum. Poor thing!

Pembrokeshire Angel

And to cater for those who look forward to seeing more of my Angels. Here is the only one in St David's graveyard. Even this has attracted the Lichen which crawls across her face. Do remember to click on the images for a close up look, especially the top image.

Cover Up?

Still in St David's graveyard, a final look at the lichen as it almost completely submerges a headstone.

More cover ups!

It is astonishing how much the lichen can conceal - whole words and symbols - as these examples show.

Lichen consumes a Headstone

There is a small graveyard in St David's, Pembrokeshire where, it seems, that Lichen is making a bid to take over the world. I have not seen such growth anywhere else in Britain. Have you ever seen similar sights? I would be interested to know.