Topiary outside St Mary the Virgin Church, East Bedfont
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Topiary outside St Mary the Virgin Church, East Bedfont by Marathon 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.
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Topiary outside St Mary the Virgin Church, East Bedfont
Image: © Marathon Taken: 24 Nov 2010
The yew trees outside the south door of the St Mary the Virgin Church must make one of the most striking entrances to any church. The dates on them give a hint of the dates involved. They were probably first cut into the shape of peacocks (or possibly fighting cocks) in 1704, and restored in 1865. They suffered a period of neglect during and after the Second World War through to 1990 but have now been fully restored. There have been several explanations for the origin of these peacocks and the most common is that they represent two sisters who were proud and vain. The tale nowadays even assumes that the women were transformed into peacocks as a punishment for hanging around the gate to the churchyard every Sunday so that they could be admired while their more modesty dressed fellow parishioners filed quietly into church.
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Image Location
Latitude
51.451536
Longitude
-0.439791