Dorset

By Ric Kemp West Country artist

13th Century font at St Gussage Church, with mysterious symbols

On the landscape at Cranborne Chase on the Dorset/Wiltshire border is the ancient 10km (6.5 mile) Dorset Cursus.

A cursus, an area enclosed by large banks of raised land, was probably used for ritual or ceremonial processions.

This cursus, and symbols nearby, may suggest this area is significant for its role in ancient sun worship.

The symbols vary in age, but the cursus itself could date back to the Neolithic era, (3,000 years BCE - Before the Christian Era).

A cursus was once thought to be a Roman athletic course but, as a prehistoric landscape feature, it was almost certainly constructed with intentional solar alignments.

Ceremonial feasting

Nearby is the Dorset hamlet of Pentridge, meaning 'Hill of the Boar'.

The hill above Pentridge is a local high point and surveys all of the principle features along the route of the ancient cursus, as it would have done over 5,000 years ago.

I believe Pentridge Hill was initially a sacred, totemic location [relating to totem - an animal, plant, or natural object serving as the emblem of a clan or family] and we know today that boar or pigs played an important part in ceremonial feasting in the Neolithic era, otherwise known as the New Stone Age.

The boar may have been associated with the sun, because of the sun ray-like bristles which run down the length of its back, from its head.

Gussage

The M for Mary is encircled, which may indicate magical significance

I had also noticed a tributary (a small stream) of the Allen River that crossed the cursus further south, at Gussage, and wondered if this might have had ritual meaning for the prehistoric culture.

The word Gussage is of uncertain meaning but is definitely the name of the brook which links the three Gussage hamlets in North Dorset.

The watercourse rises at Gussage St Andrew north of the cursus, which was once the site of a priory.

Only the chapel now remains.

It is converted into a church, and contains an enigmatic 'weeping dais' supporting a font which seems to be positioned over a spring or well, suggesting to me some pre-Christian significance.

As I followed the progress of the upper river southwards, dry in summer months but easily seen from its river bed, I crossed the cursus and came to the small village of Gussage St Michael.

'As wide as the length of a football pitch'

A VV monogram could signify M for Mary and V for Virgin

Here, there is very little to be seen of the cursus today at ground level, but originally it would have been almost as wide as the length of a football pitch, with two stout banks of brilliant white chalk flanking it on both sides for 10km (6.5 mile), as it ran from Thickthorn Down northeast to the Bokerley Ditch.

Today this marks the boundary between Dorset and Wiltshire.

At Gussage St Michael, prominent springs break surface and the small river gurgles into life.

Gussage St Michael is an attractive church dating from the early Middle Ages and I discovered some mysterious markings inside it.

Unusually for a church the 13th century baptismal font is in the tower, not the nave or main body of the church.

That was not the only unusual thing about this holy water receptacle.

The lining of the font is lead, but it passes beyond the lip of the font to enclose it on the outside as well.

Marian

This malleable metal skirting was covered with antique signs, symbols and lettering, including Marian (as in the Virgin Mary) monograms - even inside the font - and a fine if imperfect 'daisy wheel' on the west of the font exterior, measuring several centimetres across.

The ‘daisy wheel’ on the Gussage font, promoting good luck

This motif and other circles also appear several times in Salisbury Cathedral, carved mostly into pillars.

The petalled design seems to be a 'sun wheel' in origin, associated with good luck and the warding off of evil.

The juxtaposition of encircled 'M' (Mary), 'W' (V/M Virgin Mary monogram) and 'R' (Regina/Queen of Heaven) letters on the Gussage font with the 'daisy wheel' circle, point to an antique association of Virgin and circle.

If indeed these circles and solar daisy wheels were identified with Mary this would explain their appearance in church and cathedral.

It may seem strange to us to associate a woman with a sun symbol instead of exclusively with that of the moon, but the "woman clothed with the sun" from the Bible (from Revelation 12:1, King James Bible, c1611) was identified by more than one Pope with the Virgin Mary:

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."

It might be, incredible though it may appear, that an almost unbroken tradition of solar worship, from pagan sun goddess to Christian saint, extended from the New Stone Age up until the 17th century in Britain.

It was then that these strange symbols ceased to be made, and a great tide of humanity headed towards the factories and urban centres, with the irresistible dawning of the Industrial Revolution.

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