One of two imp-like grotesques surviving on the interior of the West Facade. Eight other scars within the blind arcade suggest they once decorated the entire interior facade. Grotesque imagery (nightmarish, distorted) is often found close to where congregation, monks or clergy would have sat or stood while worshipping. There was a potent idea in the medieval Church regarding opposites, and that the inclusion of scary or troubled imagery was appropriate to sit in contrast to those in proximity, as a visual and spiritual reinforcement of their supposed, or aimed-for, goodness and purity of heart. It has to be said that these imps look more dim-witted or mischievous than frightening, perhaps a soft visual cue to the medieval parishioners of St Nicholas to be neither.
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