There may be a few otters depicted in churches but they are usually relatively modern; like this window in Newcastle Cathedral. It references a legend that St Cuthbert prayed standing up to his neck in the North Sea at night and in the morning was warmed up on the shore by otters.
But here is an otter carved in stone lying at the foot of an effigy of a knight in the late 13th century Giffard chantry chapel of St Mary’s Boyton in Wiltshire.
“The most striking feature of the chapel is the effigy of the knight in armour lying between the chapel and the nave. The figure represented is probably Sir Alexander Giffard, who took part in the Seventh Crusade to Egypt and who died sometime after 1262. No one is sure why he has an otter at his feet.” (The Upper Wylye Valley Team)
No one is sure but naturally there is a legend …
To start with, the Giffards came to England, like so many of us, with the Conqueror. I suspect many more families claim this antiquity than is probable. Anyway, he was on the Seventh Crusade led by Louis IX and in 1250 fought in the battle of Mansurah in Egypt. The crusaders were defeated by Sultan of Egypt’s army and Sir Alexander only survived the battle by diving into a branch of the Nile … like an otter.
The church has much more of interest but Bertie found the echoing acoustics delightful and I felt it expedient to leave. We had lunch with one of the bell ringers.
Delightful photos. My ancestors, the Lamberts lived at Boyton after the Giffards and my Fane grandmother was brought up in Boyton – a beautiful village with a charming manor house