I was intrigued by a letter I came across recently. It was written in 1918 by Edward Elgar to his friend Ivor Atkins, organist of Worcester Cathedral:
Something, however, told me the matter hadn’t been put entirely to rest and so last week, 97 years after Wulstan’s initial sally, I set out for Worcester Cathedral to hunt down Elgar’s centaur again.
As it happens, my hunch turned out to be a well-founded one. Here, in reverse order, are my top seven contenders for the title of Master of the King’s Musick’s very own man/horse amalgam:
#7 Rabbit Riding a Greyhound
On the one hand, I accept that a rabbit barebacking a dog is difficult to confuse with a centaur. To give me credit, on the other, it does incorporate an element of cross-species jockeying. It’s a fantastic bit of carving to stumble across in a cathedral and therefore makes it onto the list albeit speciously.
Elgar Centaur Rating:
#6 Feather-headed Man Pigs
#5 Flying Cow-footed Confucius
While we’re now down to just the three conjoined species, we feel the wings are beginning to steer things off message a little here.
Elgar Centaur Rating:
#4 Hippie Bothering a Lion
This is the carving Wulstan Atkins describes as a “man riding a lion”. In fact, it turns out to be neither of these things. This is Samson straddling-while-casually-throttling a lion.
Elgar Centaur Rating: 
#3 The Diffident Sphinx
Wulstan doesn’t mention this one at all but we’re getting much closer now. Body of a lion, head of a woman, no plumed headwear. All we need to do now is change the species at the back end of business and free up the arms a little.
Elgar Centaur Rating: 
#2 The Centaur that Wulstan Missed!
BINGO! A perfectly formed centaur. Not only that but a perfectly formed musical centaur playing a rebec. Wulstan scoured all of the misericord seats but must have missed this one. It sits at the side of a carving on the underside of one of the seats, depicting three men cutting weeds.
Elgar Centaur Rating: 
#1 The Centaur that Wulstan Found
The centaur in the west wall arcading of the south choir transept. Probably the one Elgar meant all along…
Elgar Centaur Rating:
The Misericord Seats of Worcester Cathedral
The misericord seats in Worcester Cathedral are astonishingly beautiful examples of medieval wood carving. They date from 1379 and depict people, animals and scenes of daily life in the middle ages as well as biblical and mythological stories. Here are a few photographs from The Great Centaur Safari.
The misericord seats are designed to be lifted up like modern-day cinema or theatre seats. Monks had to stand for long stretches of mass and the backs of the seats have small ledges on which they could rest, hence misericord (or “pity”). Because the undersides of the seats were on display so much of the time, this is where the most elaborate carvings are found. Nowadays, they are normally hidden from view but a very helpful verger called Carol let me have a look at them all:
Elgar and Atkins quoted from: The Elgar-Atkins Friendship by E. Wulstan Atkins.
Happened upon your article with a segue from reading about Israel Yinon on a cousin’s Facebook page. With the Elgar, church carving and the centaur motifs I simply had to go to your page. You write with great wit and charm, thank you!
….and the photos of the carvings aren’t half bad!
Many thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated! Mikel