A puritanical member of the congregation in the small southern English village of Wiston is thought to be behind the smashing of an 800-year-old pagan symbol that warns against lust, the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.
The erotic stone carving with its genitalia exposed in All Saints church in West Sussex had long been a talking point, treasured by some and viewed with unease by others, the Telegraph reported.
Anne Gordon-Johnson, the local churchwarden, discovered it in more than 100 pieces on the floor after it had been attacked with a chisel, and police suspect a member of the congregation in the community of just 200.
”If you have what is believed to be a pagan figure in a church, it can frighten people. I have been told there were some who were not too happy with it. I find it very sad,” Gordon-Johnson said.
But a worshipper who declined to be named said: ”It should have been removed long ago and put in a museum. It’s not the sort of thing you want to have in your face in a place of worship.”
According to the Telegraph, it is not clear whether the carving was of a male or female. Some experts have described it as a sheela-na-gig, medieval morality figures common in Ireland but rare in Britain. Traditionally, they show a grinning old woman exposing her genitalia.
An architect has been commissioned to restore the offending carving. — Sapa-DPA