Parish church of St John the Baptist, Hornton
It is often hard to believe that five hundred years ago the walls of most parish churches were brightly painted. Sadly most of this art work was lost either during the Reformation when hard-line protestants demolished monasteries and demanded that catholic imagery be destroyed or in later centuries when well-meaning, if often misconceived, architects repaired ancient churches and, as at Bampton and Burford, stripped the old plaster from the walls.
Yet despite the ravages of iconoclasm, time and indifference, Oxfordshire has a particularly rich legacy of examples from the 13th – 16th centuries, in both local and greater churches.
Apart from a few fresco paintings at 12th century churches such as Kempley (Glos) and Hardham, Clayton, and Coombes in West Sussex, most English wall paintings were made in the secco technique of painting on dry plaster. The cheapest pigments were produced from red and yellow coloured clays (ochres) and ingredients such as soot blacks and lime whites. More expensive schemes might include richer colours and gold and silver leaf. At South Newington, in the north of the county, the early 14th century murals in the north aisle depicting the murder of Thomas Becket and the decapitation of Thomas of Lancaster were painted in an oil based medium and still retain their strong colours and freshness.
The paintings were made by small teams of professional artists who travelled from church to church painting not just walls, but tombs, woodwork and other commissions. Some, as at South Newington, may have come from London.
The Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket, parish church of St Peter ad Vincula, South Newington
The subjects varied from simple repetitive decorative designs, such as zig-zags, chevrons or fictive masonry patterning – single or double red lines imitating regularly laid blocks of ashlar – as can be seen at Shilton, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Elsfield and Fulbrook respectively to Bible stories and sophisticated images of Christ and scenes of his life.
Decorative patterning, the parish church of the Holy Rood, Shilton
Old Testament scenes are rare but Kelmscott includes scenes from the story of Adam and Eve and Cain’s murder of Abel.
Some of the earliest paintings in the county can be seen at Black Bourton where an assortment of images enliven the walls including The Tree of Jesse, episodes from the Holy Infancy and a powerful painting of Christ’s baptism.
Wall paintings, north arcade, Church of St Mary, Black Bourton
Strip-like cartoons depicting the Passion, or suffering of Christ on the cross, can be seen at Chalgrove, Great Tew, North Stoke and South Newington. Such paintings helped parishioners to visualize Christ and Bible stories during their prayers and embraced them with holy imagery. Sometimes, as at Combe on the outskirts of Witney, paintings were situated above altars where they added to the intensity of worship.
The Catholic church particularly venerated the Virgin Mary as the mother of Christ and a figure of mercy and compassion. Episodes from her life can be seen in the chancel at Chalgrove and on the walls of Broughton. At South Leigh and Beckley she uses her rosary to tip the balance as St Michael weighs the fate of a naked soul; salvation triumphing over damnation. At Hornton and Yarnton she cradles her crucified son [the Pieta]; at Thame she cries tears of blood. At Combe a painting of St Gabriel faces an empty niche which once held a statue of the Virgin Mary, a mixed-media depiction of the Annunciation.
St Mary, parish church of St Mary, Thame
Paintings of saints were another popular subject. Most of the Apostles can be seen at Checkendon. Saints Katherine and Margaret are depicted at Cassington and Kidlington, St George conquers a dragon at Hornton, St Clement holds an anchor, the attribute of his martyrdom at South Leigh and Oxford’s own saint, St Frideswide, is adored at Shorthampton. The stoning of St Stephen (the first Christian martyr) is portrayed at Black Bourton and the murder of Thomas Becket survives at North Stoke. Horley and Shorthampton both include images of St Sitha of Lucca [sometimes Zita] a pious Italian housekeeper. A tall strip-like scheme in the Milcombe chapel at Bloxham remains an intriguing puzzle. It almost certainly depicts the life of a martyred saint but exactly whose story is being told is unclear.
St Sitha, parish church of All Saints, Shorthampton, St Margaret, parish church of St Mary, Cassington and St George, parish church of St John the Baptist, Hornton
Some of the most important paintings to have survived depict St Christopher, whose image was thought to offer protection against sudden death. Usually painted on a scale commensurate with his giant-like legend, images of the saint can be seen at Wood Eaton, Horley, Dorchester Abbey and Kirtlington. At the first-named the image bears an inscription in Norman-French explaining his talismanic appeal: Ki cest image berra ce jur male mort ne murra [Who sees this image shall not die an ill-death this day]. The painting of the saint at Horley also includes a long inscription; a rhyming couplet in Middle-English which by its very inclusion challenges the over-simplified view that wall paintings were merely a picture book for people who could not read.
St Christopher, parish church of St Etheldreda, Horley
Death was a subject often depicted by artists not for its morbidity but for its promise of salvation. Its inevitability was stressed in paintings known as the Three Living and the Three Dead where three kings meet three walking skeletons who, when challenged, retort that they used to be like the kings who in turn will soon be like them. Examples survive at Widford and North Stoke. After death, came Judgement when St Michael weighed souls in a balance – Swalcliffe, Beckley and South Leigh. Many churches included wall paintings depicting the Seven Works of Mercy contrasted with the Seven Deadly Sins as visual reminders/prompts for how Christians should triumph over sin, the former depicting feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, showing hospitality to strangers, visiting prisoners, caring for the sick and burying the dead. The Seven Deadly Sins were Pride, Envy, Anger, Lust, Avarice, Sloth and Gluttony and were frequently shown sprouting from the mouths of dragons, symbolising their demotic origins – South Leigh and, as a fragment, Hook Norton.
The Seven Deadly Sins emerging from Hell Mouth, parish church of St James the Great, South Leigh
For many medieval worshipers the most memorable painting often appeared above the chancel arch and showed the dead rising from their graves and Christ separating the Saved from the Damned, the former being welcomed into Heaven by St Peter holding a key, the latter being dragged by demons into a fire-belching Hell Mouth. Usually known as the Last Judgement or Doom, good examples can be seen at North Leigh, Hornton, Combe, and South Leigh (the latter much repainted).
Weighing of Souls, Parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Swalcliffe and Hell mouth, parish church of St Laurence, Combe
Fragments or part-paintings also survive in many churches. Bloxham has the lower half of a St Christopher, Combe has some of the fish in the river the saint carried the Christ Child across; Swalcliffe has the kings but not the skeletons from a now mainly lost painting of the Three Living and the Three Dead and Cropedy has traces of a Doom painting above the chancel arch. Elsewhere Souldern and Piddington have remnants of St Christopher while at Northmoor fragmentary paintings above the effigy of Thomas de la More (d. after 1361) depict his soul being carried to heaven by angels alongside an adjacent image of the resurrected Christ. At Ewelme a largely repainted diaper scheme of IHS initials complements the part-painted tomb of Alice de la Pole.
There are also records of lost paintings. When scenes of the Seven Deadly Sins were discovered at Kidlington in 1892, for example, they were promptly re-whitewashed to protect the sensitivities of Sunday school children. More recent losses include paintings at Ducklington, Great Milton and Marston.
In the past few years there has been a renewed interest in medieval wall paintings. Some, such as those at Shorthampton and Dorchester Abbey have been restored by experts. Others, however, remain vulnerable.
Wall paintings are an important part of the heritage of our historic churches and deserve our protection. .
Where to see wall paintings in Oxfordshire
Baulking; Beckley; Black Bourton; Bloxham; Broughton; Cassington; Chalgrove; Checkendon; Combe; Dorchester Abbey; Elsfield; Fulbrook; Great Tew; Horley; Hornton; Kelmscott; Kidlington; Kingston Lisle; Kirtlington; North Leigh; Northmoor; North Stoke; Oxford Cathedral and Chapter House; Rycote Chapel (English Heritage:17th century); Shilton; Shorthampton; South Leigh; South Newington; Swalcliffe; Thame; Widford; Wood Eaton; Yarnton.
Roger Rosewell FSA