Green Men of Wells Cathedral
On a recent visit to Wells Cathedral, I kept my eye out for green men (carvings of faces with leaves growing out of them). A 1998 article in The Independent says “Rumour has it that Wells Cathedral contains 44 Green Men. We found five: two in the roof bosses of the chapterhouse; two in the south nave aisle, on the capital of the fifth pillar from the west end; and a splendid example, with oak leaves for ears, on a capital in the passage to the Lady Chapel.”
The author doesn’t give a source for the “rumour” of 44 green men. I would be surprised, because I couldn’t find many. On the other hand there are small and curious carvings everywhere, so it’s not impossible.
I managed to find the two green men in the roof bosses of the chapterhouse, circled here. They are hard to perceive with the naked eye but clear through binoculars (the envy of more than one fellow visitor).
These two green ‘men’ (animals) are carved on the corbels above the pillars, on the south side of the nave.
The “capital of the fifth pillar from the west end” does indeed have some intricate carvings, but they didn’t look like green men to me.
I also couldn’t find the oak-eared green man “in the passage to the Lady Chapel”, and I’m not sure which passage the article is referring to. But we did spot these two funny creatures. These aren’t green men either because the architectural features they are eating aren’t decorated as foliage.
4 down, 40 left to find?