History Shorts: snippets of local history

My first encounter with the Tandragee stone idol was with a replica in the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Replica in Ulster Museum (author's photo, all rights reserved) This curious little figure probably caught my eye because of its name, Tandragee being the village best known as the Northern Irish home of Tayto potato crisps. Peering at the figure a little more closely it seemed to be clutching its left arm (so I thought) with what looked like a smile, sitting beside another stone figure of a bear-like animal. I was astonished to discover that the original Tandragee idol wasn’t in another museum but had a much more unlikely home. Beneath a plaque commemorating a late 19th century archbishop of Ireland, worshippers and visitors to St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh can see the Tandragee idol in all its glory sitting on a low stone plinth in a side aisle. The cathedral houses other pre-Christian idols in its crypt (judging by photos on Flickr, these have also been on dis...

Green man , a photo by bishib70 on Flickr. I've just spotted in the Radio Times that Dr Richard Taylor's excellent Churches: How to Read Them series is getting a repeat run on BBC4. (Tonight, Nov 30, is episode 2 Medieval Life - try to tune in if you haven't seen it. There's also a DVD or iPlayer!). In a (very) little nod to the series I'm blogging this photo of a carved Green Man from All Saints Church, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire! (The church was built in the late 12th century although includes later additions.)