A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



birds and winged dragons involved in the scrolls. Only the upper half 

 of the font is ancient, the rest being a modern restoration. This 

 font has been described and illustrated in the Archaological Journal^ 

 iii. 316. 



There is only one Norman tympanum sculptured with a figure- 

 subject in Hampshire, namely at Shalfleet in the Isle of Wight. It has 

 upon it a representation of Daniel in the den of lions, treated as in the 

 paintings in the catacombs at Rome. Daniel stands in the centre with 

 a lion on each side. This tympanum has been engraved in Sir H. C. 

 Englefield's Description of the Isle of Wight (p. 101) and in Britton's 

 Architectural Antiquities, vol. v. pi. 17. In Yaverland ' church in the 

 Isle of Wight there is a Norman tympanum ornamented with a diaper 

 pattern, but part of it has been cut away to make the doorway 

 higher, and in Burghclere church there is a tympanum with a scale 

 pattern on it. 



The most interesting examples of miscellaneous Norman figure- 

 sculpture in Hampshire are the capitals of the columns at the east end of 

 the north and south aisles of the chancel of Romsey Abbey and the rood 

 built into the exterior west wall of the south transept of the same build- 

 ing close to the Norman doorway leading out of the cloister. On the 

 capital of the column in the north chancel aisle a battle scene is repre- 

 sented with two kings and two angels taking away their swords in the 

 foreground, and a riderless horse and birds of prey flying away with the 

 limbs of the slain in the background. On the capital of the correspond- 

 ing pillar in the south chancel aisle the kings again appear, one enthroned 

 on the left and the other in the middle holding a conical object in his 

 hand. An angel stands between the two kings, and on the right side of 

 the capital is a grotesque with a seated figure on each side. The capital 

 has two angles, on each of which is a v-shaped label, one inscribed 

 ROBERT ME FECIT and the other ROBERT TVTE CONSVLE DS. No satisfactory 

 explanation has been yet given of the meaning of these remarkable sculp- 

 tures, although many ingenious conjectures have been hazarded by Sir 

 H. C. Englefield, Dr. John Latham, and Mr. W. Latham in the Archce- 

 ologia (xiv. 136, 141, and xv. 304). Illustrations of the capitals will 

 be found in the Archceologia (iv. 136) and in J. Carter's Ancient 

 Sculpture and Painting (i. 139). The rood on the exterior wall of the 

 south transept of Romsey Abbey shows the Saviour on the cross in the 

 ancient Byzantine fashion with the limbs unbent. Round the head is 

 the cruciferous nimbus, and above the Dextera Dei issuing from a cloud. 

 There is a loincloth round the waist and the feet are supported on a 

 bracket. The Romsey rood has been illustrated in J. Carter's Specimens 

 of Ancient Sculpture and Painting (vol. i. pi. 2) and in J. R. Allen's 

 Christian Symbolism (p. 165). The writer is indebted to the Rev. J. 

 Cooke Yarborough of Romsey for the very valuable assistance he has 

 given in supplying information about the sculptured details of the 



1 Englefield's Isle of Wight, p. 102. 

 2 4 8 



