3rd Voussoir western arch south face

At the apex of this arch stone is a horse’s head. Across the base is an elfin man bending over a macabre head. Those elements are only discernible on examining the magnified photograph taken in 2017. ( Paul Reeve)

Starting at the right edge as you look at the page, find the foot. Follow the skinny leg from heel to rump then the line across the back to the head on the left edge. The funny little fellow wears an acorn cap. He has a pointed beard and his eyes gaze to his right passed his well-defined ear. He has a moustache below a long nose and a straight mouth. From the tip of his beard, the line follows the underside of his neck and curves along his forearm to his hand. It holds a tiny head. The thumb projects over the bottom edge of the arch-stone. The line continues along the arm to the round elbow and then up to the groin. Under the arm is an upside down head in profile. Facing the thumb is an open leering mouth with the upper teeth displayed. Just beyond the angle of the mouth is a pointed ear and an eye in the expected position. The nose is missing. I suspect he had horns. I wonder if the object held in the hand is a mirror that reflects bizarrely, so the image is the opposite of the object which is the grinning face; inverted and unhappy. In the corner is a whiskered face, perhaps a rabbit or a cat.

Do not despair and think this is an optical illusion. It has taken me days, magnifications and many tracings to reach this conclusion.

I am reading Mr. Lear by Jenny Uglow. He was a contemporary of Dan Herbert’s. They seem to have similar senses of humour characterised by irony and nonsense, arising from deep-seated anxiety. This carving could be a limerick.

A raping hare, a granny rabbit and a bear

What if the judge was a 17th century bewigged man?