The “Pilgrim Rabbit” is located at the sacristy entrance within St Mary’s Parish Church, Beverley, East Yorkshire.
The corbel carving, c.1330, is claimed to be the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit who leads Alice down the hole into Wonderland. The Pilgrim Rabbit could also be a hare. There are also visual similarities with Carroll’s other character The March Hare, otherwise known as Haigha / The Messenger. In “Through the Looking Glass” (Carroll, 1871) Haigha is the personal messenger to the White King and is visually alike to the Pilgrim Rabbit in John Tenniel’s illustrations.
Model created using photogrammetry and Autodesk 123DCatch. - Personal project
The Pilgrim Rabbit, St Mary's Church, Beverley