Mystery church carving

[Rojo5150]

Or, could symbolize the Martyrdom of two of the evangelists.
The Four Evangelists - from various sources

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I they had emblems or signs on them, I might agree they were flags. The only flags I ever seen without any markings were of surrender.
IMHO, the halberd makes more sense.
According to the link Mike P. gave, the halberd is still used as a ceremonial weapon of the Swiss guard at the Vatican. The main difference I see between his link and the one on the litany desk is the spears on the top.

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Scooter,
First Baptist Church of Black River, New York has Masonic emblems in the stain glass windows. It was built around 1890

[Tomtom]

Oddly enough, it's not that uncommon to find Masonic symbolism in English churches - my parish church in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, has a brass memorial plaque with a compass and set-square on it and the letters AMDG (ad majorem Dei gloriam), which is very Masonic. There are a set-square and a stone-saw amongst other Masonic carvings on the choir stalls at this church I'm now looking at - the Masons are far more intertwined with the established Church of England over here than they would be with a much less centralised church in the US, I'd guess!

[Tomtom]

Undercover Carver - I do like that theory about the axes representing martyrdom of the apostles - there are other details of carvings in the chancel that could be read as swords and stylised scripture rolls for the other two...

[Tomtom]

...I've checked the notes on the church, and the designer was one WD Caroe, a relatively famous and prolific ecclesiastical craftsman, so I'm hoping a book on his work I've found via google might have something to say about the symbolism of his designs.

[Rojo5150]

Tomtom,
Of course now that you've peaked all of our interests, you'll be required to submit a full report of your findings to the forum. The Undercover Carver loves a good conspiracy, uh I mean, mystery.

[Tomtom]

My wife's now on an undercover mission to get the book out of Warwick University library. All very hush-hush, of course - I'll have a look and see if there are any reasons behind WD Caroe's use of masonic symbolism. I'm hoping that the Holy Grail is buried under the altar at All Saints', Leek Wootton...!