Not Sir John de Hautville

Image: © Derek Harper Taken: 3 Jun 2005

Even though his name is inscribed beneath. This figure in the south aisle of St Andrew's, Chew Magna, was possibly "brought in to the mother church when the chantry chapel at Norton Hawkfield was demolished about 1547, and the strange position of the lion at the feet of the knight must be the result of the very cramped site in that chapel" http://www.standrewschewmagna.org.uk/History4.htm . "The figure is said to be of solid Irish oak, one of less than a hundred known in the country", and "it may be of a descendant {of Sir John}, possibly Sir William Cheney of Norton Malreward, wearing armour of the time of Henry V". The cheery lion appears to be being tickled by the left foot of the knight, who seems content enough in his awkward position, which as Nigel Llewellyn points out in 'The art of death: visual culture in the English death ritual c.1500-c.1800' , is "a pose reminiscent of the medieval statues of kings on the west front of Exeter Cathedral" http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mn9FeXHqvskC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=chew+hauteville+lion&source=bl&ots=oPGo2O7EFU&sig=UeNSj5jfqAl_Po9E7U6pyx19MTc&hl=en&ei=xMQbS-znCZbbjQeC9YGFBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chew%20hauteville%20lion&f=false .

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