Kilpeck Church - Photogrammetry
One of my favourite places to escape to and marvel at the wonder of the past is Kilpeck Church of St Mary and St David which is about 10 miles South West from the centre of Hereford. Not only does it have its fantastic Romanesque carved south door dating back to 1140 but it is adorned throughout with decorated corbels, grotesques and mystical beasts.
The temptation to do a scan during a fleeting visit of the door at Kilpeck was far too great, although not perfect by any means, the addition of my usual equipment and more time would have provided a finer result. All of these photos were shot from a Huwaei P20 Pro mobile phone, showing the power of what we carry around in our pockets!
The doorway arch is decorated with four orders, the internal quite plain almost cyma type moulding surrounding the tympanum, which I touched on in a previous blog post. On top of this we see the recognisable romanesque chevron pattern, again showing beautiful molding profiles which flows into the next order behind the beak heads. Many of the decoration appears in various Hereford School of Romanesque carving sites around the county and further afield and in time I will do my best to get these recorded for comparison. Looking at the segmental jointing of the stone, it looks as though the final order may have been added at a later date as the capitols have been extended. This shows the interlocking beaded rings and masks which again crop up in carvings of this period.
The quality of the two pillars either side of the doors is quite fantastic, especially the left hand which shows the two soldiers tangled in the vines.
I have been working with Photogrammetry for a couple of years now, both to survey and record buildings. It is incredibly useful and accurate, especially in the detailing of stonework repairs and complex patterns. I know from experience, drawing the door at Kilpeck takes a long time!! We are now even marking up stone repairs in 3D on some of our models along with annotation to help with contractor quotations.
