By a E. Panting, F.S.A. 387 



The Chuech of S. Nicholas, ' Little Langford. 



This Church has been, described as having been " rebuilt after 

 the model of the ancient edifice, in 1864." It now consists of nave 

 with south transept chapel projecting from its eastern part, and 

 chancel with vestry on the north ; there is a wooden bell-cot on 

 the east gable of the nave. 



The principal object of interest is, of course, the famous Norman 

 doorway in the south wall of the nave. The arch of this doorway 

 is semicircular and consists of a single order moulded on the face 

 and with a roll on the angles ; over this is a wide flat label with 

 billet mould worked on the face. The jambs have attached shafts 

 with moulded bases, with carved caps and square abacus, the cap 

 on the right represents a monster with snake-like legs, which he 

 is holding with his hands ; the other represents a man whose head 

 is swallowed by a dragon, and some beast stands at the side. Some 

 basket work ornament is carved on the jamb stone on which the 

 right cap is worked. Within this archway is the doorway, a 

 " shouldered " opening with flat lintel carved to represent a wild- 

 boar hunt — the boar is a ferocious looking beast with large tusks 

 and a row of bristles sticking up along its back. A man seems to 

 be hounding on, with a kind of horn, the dog in front of the boar, 

 while two other dogs are attacking it from behind. Above the 

 lintel is the tympanum which Mr. Keyser thus describes in 

 Archceologia, (vol. XLVIL, page 176) : — " On the left some beaded 

 star ornament, in the centre a bishop, ? St. Nicholas, the patron 

 saint of the Church, clad in dalmatic, alb, and stole, with the right 

 hand raised in the act of benediction, while the left holds a pastoral 

 staff, whence a branch has sprouted ; on the right are three birds 

 perched on a tree; below, on the lintel, is a hunting scene." This 

 tympanum has a semicircular arch, carved with very rude and 

 irregular chevron pattern, around it, within the main arch and 

 flush with the lintel. 



Mr. Keyser pronounces the arch mouldings as " certainly not 

 of early character " {i.e., early Norman), but I think the existence 

 of the billet mould goes to show that it is probably not later than 

 about 1120. 



