The Beverley grotesques

A pagan and an atheist went into a church...

And a jolly big church it was too

No, it's not the start of a weird joke! Last week Nano and I met up to explore the stranger sights of Beverley Minster.

Beverley is little market town - but their 14th century church is, thanks to some historical twists, the size of a cathedral. A cathedral built on a swamp, btw. (And that's why it hasn't got a central tower.)

It's very beautiful inside, and absolutely stuffed with odd carvings on every pillar and arch. Green men proliferate, of course - over 80 of them we're told

This one might be a rare Green Woman - it's wearing a wimple

But also many Medieval musicians ...

Not all of them blessed with an appreciative audience

And monsters ...

My, that's a highly polished sphinx

Woodwose

Some of the grotesques ... well, goodness knows what they are meant to represent:

"Woman with crow and baby sea monster"

"Foxy-looking dude"

"The dangers of drinking whilst snake-juggling"

Okay, I give up

Satan, presumably ...

Satan's mother?

Gollum?

However, I think we can all take a good guess at what's going on in this scene!

Oh you naughty nuns!

Thanks Nano, for a fab afternoon!