Folklore in Oxfordshire Churches

Abstract

DURING the last twenty years, I have searched in Oxfordshire villages and small towns for tangible evidence of old beliefs or customs and have found that an incomparably larger number have been preserved in churches than in the open countryside and in secular buildings. This result determined me to concentrate on 'religious folklore' in this talk as well as in my future work in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The term 'religious folklore', which was coined in the year 19o0 by the German theologian Paul Drews,' has been generally accepted on the Continent, where valuable work is being done in this particular field of study. From 1953 onwards, my findings were published in the form of a gazeteer in the Annual Record of the Oxfordshire Folklore Society. Their gradual publications has proved a great boon for I have received most helpful criticism. Discoveries were lamentably few, as Oxfordshire has been thoroughly explored by learned antiquarians. Two discoveries will be mentioned here and a few more will be referred to later on. I detected a 'poor souls' window' at Ducklington; that is a tiny round-headed window on the south wall of the Church, ca 9 feet above the ground, which was probably 'used for a lamp to draw attention of passers-by to pray for the poor souls of the departed'. A similar window, which served this very same purpose, was unfortunately destroyed in 1901 at Postlip Church, in Gloucestershire.2 With the help of Lord Raglan and Professor S. G. F. Brandon, of Manchester, a new interpretation of the enigmatic tympanum at Great Roolright could be suggested: the small mummy seems to signify the raising of Lazarus, and the monster with the very crude oval head presumably depicts the deliverance of Jonah. Both motifs symbolize the Resurrection and were very popular in early Chris-