Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: spiral

Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Neolithic stone circle situated north-east of Penrith. The stone circle is the third widest in England, behind Avebury in Wiltshire and Stanton Drew in Somerset. It consists of 66 stones set in an east / west oval configuration measuring 120 m on its long axis. Long Meg herself is a 3.8 m high, nine-tonne menhir made of red sandstone, which stands about 18 m from the entrance to the circle. On the side of the Long Meg facing the circle, there are rock carvings consisting of cup-and-ring markings, concentric circles and spirals. There is also the smaller kerbed burial mound of Little Meg to the north. One of the spirals on Long Meg

What is the parish church of the tiny village of Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix today, was the church of a priory, depending from Mozat around 1165. In the beginning the priory was named "Saint-Hilaire-lac-rouge", but over the time, the old name got a little "deformed". There is not much known about the priory. In the early years it served the pilgrims on their way - and somehow it was important enough, to built (and finance) such an extraordenary church. Bernard Craplet ("Auvergne romane") dates the building phase from around 1100 to 1200. Later Augustinian Canons and Vincentians lived here. Not a sucess story for the next centuries the buildings were sold already in 1742. The northern portal of Saint-Hilaire-la-Croix is very elaborate and combines different artistic styles. Bernard Craplet tracks the craftmen, who created this, back to a travelling group of artists, that left their marks in Fleuriel and other places in the area. I am sure, that he refers to these capitals. On the right one are dragons with only two front feet and a reptile tail. Very symmetrical tendrils sprout out of their mouths and form spirals

A Benedictine nunnery existed here for centuries. It was founded already within the 9th century. In 920 Carolingian Charles III (aka "Charles the Simple") signed a document confirming privileges bestowed to the convent by his grandfather Charles II (aka "Charles the Bald"). Since the end of the 11th century relics of Saint Annobert were venerated here, about the same time the erection of this church may have started. The process was slow. The "Abbaye Notre-Dame de Morienval" existed upto 1745 and since then the church serves as a parish church. The style and the quality of the sculpted capitals around nave and choir differs. Some carvings are complex and symmetric, some look new (19th century restored?), some even pre-Romanesque or carolingian with spirals like this one.