A TRINITY, ST. MARY’S, FAVERSHAM.
Another instance of a three-fold head similar to the Faversham carving is at Cartmel.
A still more remarkable form of the same thing occurs as a rosette on the tomb of Bishop de la Wich, in Chichester Cathedral, in which the trinity of faces is doubled and placed in a circle in an exceedingly ingenious and symmetrical manner. This has oak leaves issuing from the mouths, which we have seen as a frequent adjunct of the classic mask as indicating Jupiter.
DOUBLE TRINITY OF FOLIATE MASKS, CHICHESTER.
In carvings three will often be found to be a favourite number without a direct reference to the Trinity. The form of the misericorde is almost invariably a three-part design, and, being purely arbitrary, its universal adoption is one of the evidences of the organization of the craft gild.
As with the misericorde, so with its subjects. At Exeter we have seen ([page 4]) the tail of the harpy made into a trefoil ornament, while she grasps a trefoil-headed rod (just as among Assyrian carvings we should have met a figure bearing the sacred three-headed poppy). At Gayton ([page 87]) we have the three-toothed flesh-hook; at Maidstone is another. Chichester Cathedral and Chichester Hospital have each three groups. Beverley Minster has three fish interlaced, and three hares running round inside a circle. In Worcester Cathedral there are three misericordes, in each of which there are three figures, in which groups the number is evidently intentional. Three till the ground, three reap corn with sickles, three mow with scythes.
TRINITY OF MOWERS, WORCESTER.