This doorway is particularly interesting from being, as we believe, the only example in Scotland of similar well-preserved sculptures upon a church. In England, as pointed out by Mr. Romilly Allen, sculpture
Fig. 260.—Dalmeny Church. Window in Nave and Choir.
of this description is common on Norman structures after 1135, especially on doorways and fonts. It is difficult to form an idea of the meaning of many of these sculptured figures, occurring, as they do, in the strangest juxtaposition. On this point Mr. Romilly Allen observes[171] that “one of the most remarkable features in Norman sculpture is the way in which the Agnus Dei is associated with what appears to us to be the most incongruous surroundings, such as animals, serpents, and a bird at Parwich in Derbyshire; animals and a figure holding a pastoral staff at Hagnaston in Derbyshire; a tree with birds and Sagittarius and Leo at Stoke Subhampton in Somersetshire, &c.” Such descriptions would well apply
Fig. 261.—Dalmeny Church. Doorway.
to the doorway of Dalmeny Church, where we have associated with the Agnus Dei, Leo, Sagittarius, serpents, birds, dragons, and human figures, one, perhaps, bearing a pastoral staff.