“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread...”

When I was reading Timpson's Country Churches, I came across a photograph of a stone on which was carved with what looked like a sheaf of wheat, or a piece of rope that was unraveling, or maybe the stylized figure of a man. The Steyning stone is 5' 8" tall, a good height for a man back then.This stone is kept at St. Andrew's Church, Steyning, England.

There is also a statue of St. Cuthmann in Steyning. A copy of the standing stone rests on the ground next to a seated figure of St. Cuthmann. Britain is filled with carved and standing stones from antiquity. Stones were apparently worshiped back then. In fact, the Standing Stones o' Stenniss in the Orkneys reinforce this idea.

A source alludes to the possible underlying paganism of the stone at Steyning. "One author tells us of a legend that St. Cuthman brought down a pagan stone that the people here were worshipping, but that may be a modern legend derived from the analysis of the place name (Candlin 1985 p.55). "

A description of the photograph from the book Timpson's Country Churches explains that “The name of the village comes from the Saxon word Stenningas meaning 'the people of the stone' - and this could be the stone” (Timpson, 97).

The text explaining the origin of St. Andrew's, Steyning, formerly St. Cuthmann's, tells the legend that St. Cuthmann, seeking a place to build a church, pulled his invalid mother in a home-made handcart with a rope fashioned into a yoke around his neck. Please remember that this is a legend. Realistically, the yoke would be placed in such a way that most of his mothers' weight would have been on his shoulders and chest, however strong his neck might have been. Besides, a rope around the neck is not a pleasant image.

The wording of this legend suggests a connection to the pre-Christian and pagan cult, in which the 'hanging god' is obliquely mentioned. The rope around Cuthmann's neck broke, and as in the case of a condemned man, if he lived through the hanging because the rope broke, he was allowed to live.

Cuthmann made a “handle” of elder branch to pull the handcart, but that also broke. Perhaps the broken rope and elder branch indicated that the situation had gone far enough. It is said that St. Cuthmann vowed to build his church when he could go no further.

As for the carving on the stone in the church, it was no doubt symbolic of ideas important to the stonemasons who carved it, in this case probably the Saxon people who established the village, or perhaps an even earlier settlement of people from whom the Saxons borrowed their symbolism. Does the fact that Stenningas means the people of the stone indicate the particular stone at St. Andrews or does it have some older and deeper meaning? Even if it refers to that particular stone, what does the carving upon the stone mean?

The Saxons, having converted to Christianity, may have been referring to Jesus' quote to St. Peter, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. This is commonly believed to be a pun on Peter's name that is linked to the word petros, rock, having the meaning “You are Peter (stalwart as a rock), and you will be the foundation of my church.” This quote can be compared with Jesus' parable about the man who built his house upon the rock which survived the flood waters that destroyed all the houses not having a solid foundation. The Saxons might have been referring to the fact that they belonged to the Christian Church founded by St. Peter. Most probably, they applied this meaning after their forced rejection of paganism.

What was the significance of placing the stone inside St. Andrew's? Many of the English churches in Timpson's book feature art that is distinctly pagan, renewed in a Christian context. They were probably having a hard time giving up their pagan ways.

Another example of pre-Christian imagery is in St. Mary's church, Happisburg, which contains, “The fifteenth-century font with its club-wielding wodehouses, traditional wild men”. That motif is linked to legendary wild men of the forest who were part of the cult of Odin (Norse) or Wodin (English). The current generation has no idea how wild some of the men of England once were.

These carvings were familiar symbols to the stone masons and woodcarvers who helped build the early churches. The name Happisburg indicates the meaning of the apis village, or bee village, beehives also being an ancient symbol. Bakers' ovens were once constructed in the shape of large beehives.

The pagan symbols and customs of harvest time were remembered and used by converted pagans. Bread, corn, sheaves, and harvesting implements figured in lore so old that people eventually forgot their origin even though they continued to celebrate the custom, such as in the case of Halloween. All Hallow's Eve was once a time filled with superstition and dread but is now viewed as a frolic for children and adults alike.

The appearance of the figure on the stone at St. Andrew's is somewhat rune-like and could be mistaken for a stick-figure of a man, the center section of the figure being the torso and the top and bottom sections being the arms and legs respectively. The figure is headless. It might also be seen as a braided piece of work of two strands, or as a sheaf of wheat.

A photograph from the book Timpson's Country Churches, shows the Steyning stone kept as an artifact of antiquity at St. Andrew's Church, Steyning, England. The wire around the top does not appear to be holding the stone to the wall but is merely looped around the place where the head of a figure might be, were it symbolic of a man.

In the book Baking with Julia, written by Dorie Greenspan, there might be an answer as to what the figure on the stone represents. In the chapter titled "Artisan Breads Crusty and Rustic", the photographs of braided bread and the braided dough for Wheat-Stalk Pain de Campaign, risen and ready for baking, closely resemble the carving on the Steyning stone in St. Andrew's.

A photograph from the book Baking with Julia, shows an illustration of how to form the braid of the Braid-and-Wheat Pain de Campagne. The finished bread has a braided corona (couronne or crown) around the perimeter of the round loaf and a pattern of wheat stalks on the top of the bread. The braid is formed by lining up parallel elongated pieces of dough and starting the braid in the center.

In Pain de Campagne the author says “this loaf is made by the centuries-old chef-levain method, which depends on capturing and nurturing airborn wild yeast...To straighten out terminology, the chef, or chief, is a mixture primarily of flour and water that is allowed to ferment over a period of two days, after which it is 'fed' with more flour and water...the Pain de Compagne can be made using the fountain method...The large round loaf can sport an outer braid and a decorative bouquet of wheat stalks...or the grape cluster and star-shaped breads...”

Many of the terminologies of bread-making involve actions similar to harvesting corn and grain in the days before modern farm machinery. They sometimes sound violent, such as “slashing the batard...hold the razor almost parallel to the loaf and make three cuts..Slash the others and get them into the oven as soon as possible.”

The photograph from Baking with Julia shows the completed Braid and Wheat Country Bread.

Baking With Julia also dispalys a collection of rolling pins for related chores like “butter bashing”. It admonishes cooks to choose the French pin if only one can be had because it has no handles. (Remember that St. Cuthmann, made a handle from an elder branch for his handcart.)

The couronne or crown is a ring-shaped bread reminiscent of the halo in both Christian and pre-Christian symbolism. The bread has a hole in the center and resembles the ring-shaped rocks called logans that children were passed through in pagan times to heal them. Oddly enough, the book shows a technique for putting a hole in the dough: “Plunge your elbow into the center of the dough to make a hole.”

They actually plunged in their elbows. There is a photograph to show the correct technique.