The carvings in the local red sandstone are remarkable for their number and their fine state of preservation, particularly round the south door, the west window, and along a row of
corbels which run right around the exterior of the church under the eaves. The carvings are all original and in their original positions. They have been attributed to a
Herefordshire School of
stonemasons, probably local but who may have been instructed by master masons recruited in France by Oliver de Merlimond. He was steward to the Lord of
Wigmore, Hugh Mortimer, who went on a pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela in Spain and, on his return, built a church with similar
Romanesque carvings (now largely lost) at
Shobdon, 30 miles north of Kilpeck. Hugh de Kilpeck, a relative of Earl Mortimer, employed the same builders at Kilpeck, and their work is also known at
Leominster,
Rowlestone and elsewhere. The writer
Simon Jenkins notes the influences of churches found on the
pilgrimage routes of Northern Europe. The south door has double columns. The outer columns have carvings of a series of snakes, heads swallowing tails. In common with most of the other carvings, the meaning of these is unclear, but they may represent rebirth via the snake's seasonal
sloughing of its skin. The inner right column shows birds in foliage; at the top of the right columns is a
green man. The inner left column has two
warriors who, unusually, are in loose trousers. The outer sections of the arch above the doorway show creatures which can be interpreted as a
manticore and a
basilisk, and various other
mythical and actual birds and beasts. The semicircular
tympanum depicts a
tree of life. image:Kilpeck Angel carving.jpg|An
angel appears in the centre of the arch above the south door. image:Kilpeck Details of Door Arch.jpg|Other details of the arch include
serpents and
dragons swallowing their tails (see
Ouroboros). image:Kilpeck_Green_Man.jpg|The "green man" on the
capital of the columns to the east side of the south door For many years the south door was hidden by a wooden porch, but this was removed in 1868 to allow visitors to see the carvings as originally intended. Although this has left the doorway exposed to the elements, the sandstone is exceptionally robust, and its condition is carefully monitored. In 1968 a narrow protruding strip of lead was let into the
mortar above the arch to protect the carvings from water running down the wall above. Eighty-five corbels survive, one fewer than are illustrated by Lewis in 1842 (originally there were 91). The meaning of most is obscure, but some probably come from a
bestiary, and they include a
Sheela na Gig. image:Kilpeck hound & hare corbel.jpg|One corbel shows a hound and hare. Image:TwoKilpeckCorbels.jpg|Two corbels, depicting a ram and a lion image:Kilpeck Sheelagh na Gig.jpg|The famous sheela na gig Image:Stoup, Kilbeck Church.jpg|The carved stoup, brought from Wormbridge Two green men appear as capitals on the richly decorated columns of the west window. In the centre of the corbel table below the window, and at each corner of the nave's west wall, are large protruding dragons' heads with coiled tongues. Each of the three mouths gapes to a different degree, rather like an
animated sequence evenly spaced across the western facade. (A fourth dragon head, on the south-east corner of the nave, is broken.) Inside the church, the chancel arch is also richly carved, though far less spectacular than the south doorway. Its carved figures are said to have been inspired by those on the "Puerta de las Platerias" at Santiago de Compostela. ==Churchyard==