Stogumber Festival

Long before the sculptors mallet hit chisel, long before the stone itself was lifted from the earth with block and tackle, they slept. Eons of time passed and the rock was compressed and squeezed, heated and formed by mantle pressures, and inside the little ones still slept on. The massive bed rock rose and lifted on unimaginable forces until its peeks became hill tops, and rivers cut valleys through it's heart.

Then the eye of man spied this stone and proposed good purpose for it in his churches and mullion lintels. The quality of the stone was unmatched by any other, it out stripped them all in beauty, colour, grain and strength, and sculptors would come from far and wide to request but a tiny block to add key features and signature flourishes to their buildings.

In this quarry of unmatched quality was a vein which surpassed them all, it was the richest who's stone seemed to carve itself beneath the chisel and the sculptor's art would naturally accelerate to new heights of craft in his art.

So it was here in Stogumber, that a few blocks of these stunning stones were purchased to crown the church itself. The sculptors bench was prepared and blocks laid for his art to commence, around him were drawings and sketches of the work commissioned.

Chip Chip Chip went the beetle on the chisel and the sense of the beast within began to awaken. First the fore paws, then the jaw line, next the back bone and then the breast.

The sculptor carved away, not breaking for dinner, nor sleep, he forgot about his sketches and the design of his commission but carved on as if the stone itself bequeathed it.

Chip Chip Chip and the apprentices busied themselves around him, sharpening files, raking chippings, clearing dust which obscured the sculptors work. But the stone seemed to fall away like rinds from an onion skin or the crust from a pie, it could have been crafted with a wooden spoon or chair handle so easily did it fall from the block.

The nose was now complete, the eyes drilled sharp, the back arched ready to pounce, claws cut and deep teeth set. Scales along it's flank seemed to ripple as he carved and the apprentices became worried, never before had such a creature come from the hands of their master and still he did not break nor rest for even a moment.

Three days passed in this manner, and the sculptors hard hands were raw with over use, through cold and wind he carved, when the light was poor he lit candles, when the rain poured he did not seem to feel it.

Now the beast was all but carved with just his back legs and tail still tethered in the stone, one heavy knock would set this beast free, but as he raised his mallet high a hand was laid gently upon his shoulder and it broke the spell.

He looked down at his hands and then at the animal disbelieving what he had created. The beast was tight on it's hunches ready to leap and he pulled back in fear from his creation.

The sculptor was escorted away and the apprentices were tasked with fashioning the base to fit in the church battlement, it's lithe form set as a warning to all that this place was protected, alongside others created in much the same fashion.

Decades passed and the stone beasts kept their sentry guarding the church whilst inside good folk preyed for their well being, delivery from evil and justice in all forms. It was the latter of these three which weaved it's way along pew ends, through the tiles and into the church walls. Good words mixed with time, freshened up with the frenzy of festival, at a time of year when harvests were plentiful and the sky was a wash with meteors, then and only then would the impossible happen.

The stone tether of the battlement turn to butter and the beasts slide from their moorings to explore.

On the first day when the sun brightened the morning sky, the first light fell on the tethering blocks and they softened.

Firstly the beasts blinked, not just once but several times, then their jaws slackened just a little followed by rippling scales. Then there was a great stretch which started in a yawn and finished with every scale shaking along their bodies. It was at this point that they slipped right out of their nests and found themselves free from the tethering block for the first time ever.

The griffin found himself in a nest of leaves, grass and hay early that morning. He decided he was going to make a friend so he set off through the dark, damp and dewy forest.

After a few minutes he came across a squirrel sat on a stump.

"Will you be my friend?" he asked the squirrel.

"Most certainly not" shouted the squirrel.

So the griffin flew off to find someone else.

A little while later he thought to himself, 'I'm sure it's getting hot in this forest.' Soon he found the answer. There was a bonfire around the corner.

Then he heard a squeak. It sounded like a hedgehog; he was in the fire.

The griffin spread out his wings, hovered over the fire and grabbed the hedgehog in his talons.

He had found a new friend!!!

On the first day the shimmering, proud and foolish griffin crept through the silent graveyard.
Can you guess what he was doing?
Yes: He was eyeing up the huge autumn leaves. Suddenly he pounced. He rolled around in the crunchy pile, purring like a cat. Then out of nowhere a huge black crow swooped low over the griffins head, startling him. He recoiled like a hissing viper and ran away with his tail between his legs!

the dog faced one snuck into the Old School house where the doctor lived and stole his teeth from his bed side table, then left them on the pulpit edge as if they would do his sermon without him.

The Hunky Punk, which had a lion's head, strong powerful wings and a small beard, was very bored and cold. He started to stamp his feet and the tarmac under them began to crumble.

After five minutes he noticed that he was next to an old, tumbledown farm. As soon as he noticed that, he flew over the gate and stormed into the barn. He grabbed a sheep shearer and set to work shearing the sheep in the barn. Once he had taken the wool off the sheep he found some knitting needles and knitted himself a jumper. He put it on and finally became warm despite the cold outside.

The winged dragon gargoyle, with a long spiky tail, swooped down to the barn. He breathed fire on the wooden gate and ate a fat juicy pig!!! Suddenly the farmer appeared with his rifle and shot at the dragon, but thankfully it ricocheted and the dragon got away.

the fox faced one stole into the library and learned to read, he was particularly interested in the cookery books. When he had finished reading them he then ate every last one of them and interestingly the curry recipes tasted exactly like the cake baking books!

In the morning, the ghost rose from the grave, they scared all the people walking through the evil church yard! Watch the gargoyle brake out of the the the village until he broke the gates on the fence. He smashed them all down! He ate a lot of crows and pigeons and the feathers got stuck in his teeth.

In the afternoon the seabird gargoyle went to look for some fruit, in fact it was rotten apples he was looking for to go with the crows and pigeons from this morning.

Then he broke another one of the gates leading to a wet pathway. After that he decided to find all the twigs to make a hideout but just as he was picking up the last twigs a ghost entered. The seabird hid in a blue horse' cart but when one of the ghosts went into the horse' cart, the sea bird escaped.

Thankfully all the ghosts were sucked back into the graves and the sea bird flew back to the church.

the scaled one sat on the railings outside number 12 and watched their TV through the window though he understood none of it.

On the fourth day, he decided that he fancied a rampage. So, he tore through the alley way, wrecking all the houses as he went by. Then, he furiously flew to a nearby field and dug some deep holes to scare some animals so he could eat them for lunch. He also ate some beautiful trees that occasionally got in his way. Finally he flew back to the wrecked alley way as he still had some rabbits left from his rampage. He ate them to give him some energy for the rest of the day.

After the mean, evil and meat eating beast went on a rampage he was very tired. So he decided to swoop through the air back to the alleyway you are in now. He landed in the bush on your right. The beast hid in that bush until it got dark, giggling and laughing about all the horrid things he had done that day, such as eating rabbits, wrecking houses and enjoying the sound of his teeth squelching into a nice juicy rabbit. That night the beast had a dream about his future island (where he would live forever). It would rain rabbits the grass would be sheep wool and the kids would be meaty cows for him to eat.

the winged one ate through the marquee guy ropes of all the festival tents so that in the morning the stewards had a big job making them safe again.

The serpent camouflages himself into apple trees, with his sharp pointy beak ready to catch his prey. The serpent caught his prey and swooped back to the apple trees with a plumply black bird, ready to rip the poor bird to pieces. When he'd finished his prey, he carried on with his jouney.

In the latest of late morning the gargoyle was feeling hungry. So he climbed, climbed and climbed to the top of a tree, and waited. Soon a flock of pigeons perched on a roof that they thought held no danger, but then he pounced. The pigeon he had caught was the biggest and fattest. He ate it in one big gulp.

the dog eared one woke every child in the neighbourhood by screeching in such a way as only children and babies could hear. The parents put it down to the wind or the full moon, but the children knew that the Hunky Punks were out.

One of the Hunky Punks keeps on staring at me randomly with its beady red eyes. So I call him Beady Eyed Nick. So far he is in a field under Goblin Forest. He stood still and quiet then heard mysterious noises and birds calling. If you are quiet like Nick you will be able to hear the mysterious noises and birds too.

Nicks tummy began to rumble
'I know I will eat some blackberry." He said in a high pitched voice.

About 5 minutes later he felt ill, but then he saw a dog and thought
"I wonder if that dog will make me feel better"
So he chased after the dog right to the end of the field. He caught and dragged the dog into a pit next to a kissing gate and eat him for his dinner!

One of the Hunky Punks looks like it had a carriage on its back and it also had a scary cold grin. Suddenly the Hunky Punk leapt out of the church and violently crushed down the graves and the spirits escaped. It was just like Dick Turpin but a billion times worse. The Hunky Punky's name was Cliff, and it was neither woman nor man.

Cliff scraped down the banks and terrorised the public from the pub. Then it climbed up the pipes of the houses and danced on the roof tops. At that moment the people saw it and then started throwing plates at Cliff. The hideous creature vanished into thin air. Cliff was in a high up tree and then almost fell...

the beaked one snuck into the church and changed the psalm numbers for the songs to those which he preferred to hear. Then he sat and listened to the quiet gentle sounds of the Church at night which he was so familiar with, they felt like old friends.

On the Seventh Day there was a gargoyle who had a fox face, with a long nose and pointy ears. One day the gargoyle was walking through some fields and saw a farmer. He saw the farmer was carrying a gun so the gargoyle ran to hide. He noticed a red garage door but in the garage there was a wire in there. Suddenly he heard a tractor going past so the gargoyle came out and he saw the farmer at the top of the hill running down to shoot him. The farmer fired. It missed him and hit a sign. Then the farmer put his hand in his pocket but there were no more bullets so the gargoyle got away.

And if you look at the blue sign you will see where the farmers bullet hit!

The dragon gargoyle was scavenging for food. He landed. Suddenly, the farmer tried to shoot the gargoyle (that was heading for the Goblin forest) but he missed the gargoyle by a scales width. Instead he hit the signpost again, then the gargoyle soared down to the chain gate.

Can you spot the shot signpost and the chain gate?

the pigeon chested one snuck into every house in the village and hid their car keys and swapped their socks so not one person had a single matching pair. He then slept in the fire box of a steam train at Bishops Lydeard amongst the embers.

On the eighth day The Gargoyles wings were long and transparent as glass. It's teeth as sharp as a knife, super scaly body and he was two metres tall.

One day he came to Boar Cottage. He was tired and hungry and he decided to knock on the big wooden door. Bang Bang Bang. A little old lady peeped through the key hole with her big eye, then slowly opened the door with a big creak. She stood there and stared for about 1 minute. Then she was gone with the door still left wide open.

In a flash she was back at the door with a broom. Whoof! He got hit out. With another loud creak the door slammed closed. It was all suddenly quiet. So he made another cunning plan. Chasing the annoying pigeons and so he did! Caught 10. Had his dinner. Then went to sleep! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

The gargoyle.

He has a massive jaw with monstrous sharp teeth.
He suddenly smashed through a gate with his acid spit and disappeared.
The angry farmer chased him quickly around the village.
He finally got away by hiding in Roger's shop.
He stole a biscuit and hid behind the counter eating the delicious chocolate chip cookies!

the tooth beaked one felt slow so he slept for a while in a nook half way between Boars Head Cottage and the Church on Hill Street. But it wasn't like his tethering stone up on the battlements.

On the final day the hunker punks could feel the stone of their bodies begin to stiffen, their wings seemed to hardened and it was difficult to unfurl them so they thought perhaps today was not a good day for flying. But as the soft stone of their flesh hardened they began to long for sleep. One at at time they crept up the door post of the church towards their old sentry posts. In the battlement they slid their tails into the old blocks and it felt good and snug, like a perfect glove or a warm bed.

As the sun set on the last festival day, their scales set hard as stone once more, jaws ready to pounce, eyes watching and protecting the church against evil. They assumed their old positions on the battlements exposed to all seasons and all weather, waiting until the next festival, when the sky is filled with meteors and the harvest spread is plentiful.

But between these times, if you watch really closely and keep your eyes fixed on their bodies you might just catch one winking at you!

Thanks to Hall Farm for granting permission just for this festival to walk across their land, and also to the brilliant pupils of Stogumber C of E Primary school, especially Mr Wedderkopp.

Looking forward to more storywalks in the near future.

Christopher Jelley