The Romsey Sheela na gig 


This figure is situated on the Norman Abbey in Romsey. the current church is the third to stand on the site but has been a place of worship for at least 1000 years going back to Saxon times. Romsey Abbey is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Norman church architecture still standing.

A Sheela with objects
This sheela is unusual in that it is accompanied by a number of objects. The figure holds a crooked staff which has been interpreted as a crozier. The staff is said to indicate that the figure is meant to be the abbess. There is also a hard to identify object in the figure's left hand which has been identified as shears. However Richard N Bailey examined this figure close up on scaffolding and dismissed this interpretation in his paper Apotropaic Figures in Milan and North-West England (point 12). As you can see in the photograph on the left the object does not appear very scissor like. The figure straddles what appears to be a now damaged bowl. The vulva is indicated by a small notch and is not very prominent.

The Nun on the Potty
The figure was known locally by schoolchildren1 in the past as "The nun on the potty" this is probably due to the fact that there appears to be something between the figures splayed legs. This object appears to be a damaged pot hence the local name for it. Indeed the figure may be a combination of exhibitionist and an "at stool" figure although there does not appear to be any sign of a stool. 

A Miserly Sheela?
Whereas it's very hard to determine what the unidentified object is, my personal theory is that it's a purse ring . See Melbourne Church's Miser Figure for an example of a purse ring. In December 2006 I revisted Melbourne and took some more detailed pictures of the "miser" figure and found that the object that the figure was holding actually included what seems to be the sack of the purse as well. If you compare the Romsey figure to the Melbourne one they both seem to be holding what appear to be very similar objects.  This would seem to fit into the alleged satirical nature of the carving as the purse ring is used in Romanesque carving to indicate miserliness.  This would mean that carving has been used to imortalise the abbess's niggardliness possibly in paying the sculptors. However there a problems with this theory in that the purse ring is usually depicted as a open D shape which the object only just resembles. We should also be a little wary of the satirical explanation as this is one frequently used to explain rude or out of place carvings on churches. A similar story is told about the Kilpeck figure and many other anomalous (to our eyes) church carvings. One odd fact is that the carving was originally in position where it could not be seen easily. This begs the question could this be a genuine example of a "mason's joke". There are however a number of features that would argue against the satirical nature. The carving is not a quick piece of graffiti but a well carved and detailed panel. It would have taken a significant amount of time to carve taking a sculptor away from other more visible and authorised work. As with most speculation on these figures the fact is we will never really know.
John Harding

 

Victorian birthing corbel adjacent to the Sheela na gig figure

Unlike most church sculpture we have a likely sculptor for this corbel as he has kindly left his signature on the side of the figure. The name Ellery is fairly easy to make out with a possible date of 1865 below. A Thomas Ellery is recorded in Harrod & Co.'s Directory of Hampshire & Isle of Wight, 1865 "Thomas ELLERY, stone and marble mason, Middle Bridge street, Romsey". Unfortunately only Ellery is clear with some scratches possibly indicating initials. It's thought that this corbel is a replacement for an original romanesque corbel of a similar design.

Romsey Abbey. The arrow indicates the position of the sheela na gig carving. The birthing corbel is on the adjacent lower corbel table.

 

Sources

1. The late Wendy McKenna local resident and archaeologist.


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