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THE NORMAN TYMPANUM OF LITTLE LANGFORD 



CHURCH. 



By J. U. Powell. 



An obiter dictum of the Editor of this Magazine, that perhaps 

 the uncommon suhject on the Tympanum of the Norman south 

 door of Little Langford Church might be regarded as a represen- 

 tation of St. Aldhelm, has suggested this enquiry. This Church 

 which stands a few yards north of the railway, half-way between 

 Wylye and Wishford, attracts the eye, as one passes it in the train, 

 from its symmetrical aud spick-and-span appearance ; for the 

 nave, chancel, and south chapel appear to be approximately equal 

 in size, and the chessboard arrangement of stone and flint, which 

 is a characteristic of the old domestic buildings of the neighbour- 

 hood, give an impression of smart and trim work. The eye can 

 just catch sight of a Norman south doorway in the nave with a 

 carved tympanum, although of course it cannot detect the details. 



This Tympanum is illustrated in Hoare's Modem Wilts, Hun- 

 dred of Branch and Dole, p. 19, and in C. E. Keyser's Norman 

 Tympana, in a clear full page photograph, No. 148, and described 

 on p. lxxiv. The most recent account of the Church is by Mr. C. 

 E. Touting (W.A.M., xxxv., 387, June 1908) with an excellent 

 photograph of the tympanum. It is probable that the good con- 

 dition of the carving is partly due to the fortunate circumstance 

 of the building of a south transept chapel, which has protected it 

 considerably from the south-west rains. The tympanum in Hoare's 

 illustration is not complete, because the right hand part of the arch 

 was blocked up at the time when he wrote. Mr. Keyser describes 

 it as containing " a hunting scene on the lintel ; a tree with a bird 

 at the top of each of the three branches ; and a figure of an 

 ecclesiastic vested, holding a pastoral staff, and in an attitude of 

 benediction. As this Church is also dedicated to St. Nicholas, it 



