O all ye Green Things upon the Earth, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Canterbury Cathedral has at least 70 Green Men, secular buildings in the city account for another 30 or so. This wonderful Green Man is located in the Black Prince's Chapel and is rarely accessible by the public. His gentle smile and the radiant foliage like a burst of sunlight make him one of the finest Green Men in the world, equal to the Sutton Benger or Bamburg examples.

These Green Men are among the hundred or so faces, creatures, mermaids and angels looking down on us as we walk through the cloister. A roof boss works like the keystone of an arch, except that it supports the load transmitted by the ribs of vaulting from all sides. They were usually made oversized and decorated to hide the gaps.

The other cloister Green Man is a very handsome fellow - in a Terry-Thomas sort of way, and it is difficult to believe he is not a portrait from life - probably of someone involved in the works.

Although this Green Man is part of the 20th century restoration of the cloister, it represents a very strange, disturbing and ancient form of the Green Man: The foliage is issuing from the eyes. This could indicate weeping, clairvoyance, the craftsman entering fully into the world or it could be an echo, supposedly, of Celtic head worship - where the severed head of an enemy was decorated with leaves.

The lovely Green Lion on the left speaks the foliage which surrounds the South West Door. Green Lions actually account for about half of the Green 'Men' in the Cathedral. The lion can represent a king or Christ, but I think here they (for there are two here) are astutely guarding the entrance.

I think this Green Man is laughing, rather than screaming. It looks like a roof boss but is in fact only an inch or so in diameter - it forms part of the 'ceiling' or canopy over the tomb of Archbishop Stratford.

Above is a Green Man carved on the tomb of Archbishop Meopham in St Anselm's chapel. It is carved on 'touchstone' which resembles ebony and takes it name from its property of 'streaking' a particular colour when rubbed with gold, thus indicating its purity. There are several dragons and Green Men on this tomb.

The curious octopus-like Green Man is one of a pair on the capital overlooking Meopham's tomb. He is disgorging Romaneseque bead-work scrolls and, like the SW door lion, is poking out his tongue in defiance.

The Green Cats above, on capitals in the ancient crypt, are obviously modelled on the kind of image found in illuminated manuscripts all over Europe and Canterbury had its own scriptorium for the production of such books. The curious creature on the left, with ass's ears and what look like snakes issuing from his mouth is on the outside of the South Norman Tower. The snakes may symbolise lies, perhaps, or prophecy. What any of the symbolism means is uncertainty - the imagery of the Green Man is open only to speculation, never to certainty.

There are very few Green Women - the 'modern' Quire stalls on the left show a Green King and his Queen. The Bell series Cathedral guides are mentioned by M.R.James, two of whose famous ghost stories are based partly around Canterbury Cathedral. In the Canterbury volume of Bell, I found the drawing above (W.T.Owen, 1891). It shows a Green Man from the old Quire stalls. These were 'in pieces' when the drawing was made and I am unaware of their location now. Who knows what carving we have lost.

These are items that were very nearly lost. The wonderful Green Lion with human eyes is from St. Augustine's Abbey, the Cathedral's ruined twin. Some beautiful fragments survive in the Abbey Museum. The Green Lion resembles the style of the Green Man and Lions in the Black Prince's Chapel. The 12th century floor tile is the only one of its kind that I know of and was probably made locally, on Tyler Hill.The broken Green Man is from an unknown religious building in the area of the Falstaff Hotel and is now embedded in the wall of the beer garden.

The leafy and leaf-disgorging creature above is on a 16th century shopfront in Burgate Street. The excellent Green Man on the left is, perhaps surprisingly, one of several on the Post Office built in 1907. The Green Man frequently appears on Victorian banks and municipal buildings, even on this grave stone(below).

The intricate but rather weathered romanesque carving above overlooks the entance of the Green Court Gate. On the left is one of the Green Lions who accompany the Green Man in the Black Prince's Chapel and below that, a Leaf Lion from the Archbishop's Palace. Below is one of several green men on woodcarving in the ancient Cogan House.

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The two Green examples on the left are from manuscripts written in Canterbury, possibly in the Cathedral Cloister beneath the Green Man roof bosses.

Like the Green Man himself, the message of this very fine carved capital in the cathedral Crypt is a complete mystery. Two griffins emerge from the top of a cat-mask which itself disgorges stems of foliage. Who knows what story it is telling.

It has long occured to me that Canterbury is far more like Glastonbury than it is given credit for. After all, King Arthur is buried in Canterbury, according to the Breta Sogur. The Cathedral is built on the site of a stone circle, aligned on Betelgeuse, according to Professor Lyle B. Borst. There is a ley line conecting Canterbury, Stonehenge and Glastonbury Abbey, according to J.A.Greed. Becket's death was a ritual sacrifice, according to Margaret Murray.

There are many mysteries in Canterbury - the Green Man is one of them.

Carvit out of wood and paintit it wer may be 1/2 as big as a real face. The back of it flat and the front of it ful roundit it wer that same and very face I seen in my mynd. Them wide open grean eyes staring up at me wylst the vines and leaves growit out of his mouf.

from Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

The Green Man above is on a bench end in the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Northlew, Devon. There was a considerable Becket cult in Devon in the middle ages and many parish churches and chapels were dedicated to him. Click on this typical example of a Devon Green Man to go to the Devon page.