Not quite The Stalls at Barchester but The Mezzotint?

OK, so not quite as spooky as the carvings in the M. R. James story The Stalls at Barchester. Instead we have the stalls of the Gawdy Chapel at St Mary's Redenhall (or the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to give the church its formal title) near Harleston, South Norfolk). The Gawdy family were lawyers and politicians who thrived during the 16th-18th centuries and lived at nearby Gawdy Hall (demolished 1939) – the tortoise was their symbol.

​Interestingly, in fact spookily, in another M. R. James story The Mezzotint, the villain of the piece – a hanged poacher who comes back from the dead to take his revenge on the family who caused his downfall – is called Gawdy, the last member of a very old family who had once been lords of the manor.

I'll be talking about the church, the Gawdy family and some local legends in the first episode of my new Urban Fantasist podcast series.