The Provenance of Celtic Stone Heads

Celtic stone head carvings have been dubbed 'archaic heads' by folklorist John Billingsley (who has written extensively on the subject) to distinguish them from the more obviously representational and finely worked 'Classical' Roman head. Archaic stone heads are primarily features of vernacular architecture and while they vary in style most appear to be rather coarsely rendered, although this is often a case of deliberate stylisation rather than any lack of skill on the part of the sculptor. Typically, the face is circular with relatively flat features, whilst a triangular nose is carved in relief continuous with the eye ridges. Eyes tend to be rounded and lentoid; the mouth a slit or “cigarette hole” lacking lips or teeth. Other characteristics such as the representation of facial hair are occasionally found, whilst some instances are janiform (two faces looking in opposite directions) or tri-cephalic (three heads, such as the Mother Goddess).

Common locations to find archaic stone heads include above doorways and windows and on chimneys, gables and eaves. They are also found on gateways and bridges, occasionally built into field-walls and sometimes buried, especially in the case of the free-standing examples. Their precise function has been the subject of much speculation, but it is generally thought that they are associated with pre-modern concepts of liminality (boundaries), as they are so often found at threshold locations. As such, they act as boundary guardians and mediators, a physical representation of a tutelary spirit. The fact that many such carvings are found in positions where they are difficult to see supports the theory that they were primarily “magical” devices rather than decorative motifs.

Some carvings were thought to represent an individual who’d died during the construction of the building on which the image is found, and it has been suggested that this echoes the Celtic practice of foundation sacrifice to ensure the 'luck' of the dwelling. A more common explanation is that heads were carved on the building to ward off evil spirits and whilst this is a rather simplistic interpretation of the heads, it suggests a persistence of the apotropaic function in the local folk memory.

Celtic cultures are known to have venerated the image of the head, similarly believing it to possess the power to ward off evil spirits and some of the examples uncovered in the region may indeed date to the Iron Age or Romano-British period. Some historians such as Ronald Hutton assert that “many traditions dubbed Celtic by mid-20th Century folklorists are unlikely to be older than the late medieval period”. If this hypothesis is correct, then the archaic head represents not a uniquely Celtic icon but one that has arisen in the folk tradition of many different periods and cultures, suggesting a commonality in the collective human psyche which some find just as interesting.

It is prudent to approach this question with an attitude of what the poet John Keats called “negative capability”, whereby you entertain all possible theories without feeling the need to settle on any definitive answer. However, when all the various factors are accounted for, the possibility of an enduring Celtic-Romano tradition does not seem so unlikely.

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