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A Hidden Sheela
The
figure is large and more crudely carved than the other carvings in the
church. The face is missing, has weathered away or more likely, has
been defaced at some time. A number of scratches on the face seem to
lend weight to this interpretation. However the it may be
that the
figure never had a face as the proportions of the head seem reasonable
and there is no indication of the mouth. The figure appears to be
wearing a headdress or has a full head of hair. The right hand gestures
to
the groin where a fairly modest vulva is indicated by a cleft. The left
arm is truncated at the elbow. A raised
area on the chest may indicate breasts but there appears to be no space
indicating clevage. The figure has spent most of the last 500 years or
so hidden in a wall. The norman pillar, on which the sheela
resides, was walled up with its neighbours possibly in the 14th century
when the North
aisle of the church collapsed. Rather than rebuild the aisle the
pillars were filled in and replastered to make the outer wall of the
church. During the 1898 restoration of the church the
pillars were rediscovered and uncovered. Fortunately parts of the
capitals protruded from the wall which alerted the architect of the
restoration that there might be something within the wall.
The Church and the Bullys
The church
leaflet states that the present church was built in 1080 by John de
Bully (alternate
spellings are Busili, Buslim Buesli and Buili) as a Chapel of
Ease for the people of Austerfield. They had
previously had been making a 12 mile round trip every Sunday
to
attend Blythe Priory. John de Bully lived from 1054 to 1089 (?), since
the
church would have built between these dates or soon after, it
places the carving of the sheela firmly in a Norman
context but one which is quite early
for a UK sheela na gig. This of course assumes that the sheela was
carved
at the time of building. Even if the sheela is a later addition the
pillars are still Norman work (12th century?). Whichever century the
pillars belong to it still firmly places the figure
in a Norman
context. The church is also famous for its tympanum over the south door
which shows a fairly crude dragon. An article by the Rev Edward
Dunnicliffe in the Southwell review of 1954 places the dragon tympanum
in the 8th Century and relates it to the Synod of Austerfield of 702
which settled the manner in which the date of Easter should be
calculated. However an article on the CRSBI site (below) seems
to imply that the tympanum is the work of the Yorkshire school of
Romanesque sculpture rather than earlier Saxon work.
Austerfield is approximately
5 miles to the east of Tickhill Castle
which houses some possible exhibitionist figures and
was owned by Roger de Bully who is renowned "for
being
famous in the Domesday book and nowhere else". So once again
we
seem to have a local tradition of carving exhibitionist figures
and the same family acting as patrons.
There is a fairly detailed
page on St Helena's at Doncaster Family History Society website http://www.doncasterfhs.co.uk/churches/austerfield.htm
No mention is made of the sheela na gig.
An article on Romanesque
sculpture in the West Riding of Yorkshire can be found here
http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/crsbi/ywpreface.html
Thanks go to Chris Harrison
for supplying the images and the church leaflet |
