Carved In Cowls
Carvings on bench ends:
A bird, but slightly damaged
And a human head, female,
Two-faced, if slightly ravaged;
Cowled, features keen:
Nuns, surely?
Skilfully turned, smooth edged
By spinster sisters:
Poppy-heads unique,
To witness, quite privileged…
Pete Ray
Weybourne, 2016
Carved in 1900 by a family of wood turners and carvers, who were sisters.
The six of them: Hannah Beatrice, Mary Esther, Rose Cecily, Martha Grace, Maude Marguerita and Eleanor Bolding, are pictured below.
‘Poppy-heads’ were carved on bench-ends but many were removed during the Reformation.
The name apparently derives from the Latin word ‘puppis’, meaning a figurehead on the poop deck of a ship.
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