Painted rood beam
Woodeaton, Oxfordshire has a super little medieval church with loads of texture. The walls have the crumbling remains of layer after layer of wallpaintings, including loads of red ochre lining out.
Above the chancel arch the fifteenth century rood beam survives. Against a faded ochre background is picked out the rather startling inscription: 'Venite benedicte patris mea ite maledicte in ignem internam', i.e. 'Come you blessed of my father, go to the eternal fire, you accursed’, I suppose a paraphrase of parts of Matthew 25. Between the words are delicate sprigs of foliage.
Among the wallpaintings here is also a rather lovely fourteenth century St Christopher, which is also worthy of inclusion in this post.
Comments
That Christopher figure is fantastic -- the layers and fading of the paint along with the texture of the papers gives this St. Christopher an ethereal "fragile-ness" with which he's not usually associated.
The featureless face of the Christ figure he carries gives it unintentional poignancy, as well.
It would interesting to see something like this stabilized but not restored and let time itself have a hand in the art-making...
The parish is also fundraising for roof repairs at the moment, so if you pop in any time soon do leave them a little something!
Nat (DAC sec, Diocese of Oxford)