Mayfield Village Sign
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Mayfield Village Sign by Kevin Gordon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Mayfield Village Sign
Image: © Kevin Gordon Taken: 11 Feb 2009
In 1920 The Duke of York gave a speech at the Royal Academy which prompted a revival of village signs. The Daily Mail organised a village signs competition in which this design secured second prize, winning £500. The sign depicts girls in a flower covered field as traditionally it is said that the name of the village means "Maiden's Field". The founder of the local church was the Saxon Archbishop St Dunstan. He was not only a scholar and musician but also a skilled metal worker. It is said that when working in his forge in Mayfield, a young maiden entered to tempt the good man but Dunstan noticed the cloven feet of the devil under her skirts, and pulled the devil's nose with his tongs. This scene is depicted on the sign under the name of the village.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.02031
Longitude
0.260619