Medieval treasures

THE painting of St George slaying the dragon hits you as soon as you step through the heavy wooden door of the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Pickering.

He is dressed in full armour, and mounted on an armoured warhorse. In his right hand he holds a lance, which spears down through the head of the dragon lying on its back at his feet.

It is a stunning work of medieval art: one which rears up above you as you stand in the nave. And St George is not alone. He is just the first of a whole series of medieval wall paintings that cover the walls of the church's nave, both north and south.

The colours are slightly faded with time, but nonetheless vivid. It is as though the church is peopled with scenes and characters from the Gospels and early church history.

Many of those scenes are surprisingly bloody: John the Baptist having his head cut off at the Feast of Herod; St Edmund being martyred by the Danes, his body pierced through and through by arrows; St Catherine, being broken on a wheel before having her head chopped of by a man wielding a huge Turkish sword.

There is a reason why so many of the paintings show scenes of violence, said Father Antony Pritchett, the parish priest of Pickering with Lockton and Levisham. "Many show Christian martyrs: people who defended the faith."

Not all are so gory, however.

Directly opposite the door – so actually the first thing you see when you step into the church, although your eye tends to be quickly drawn to St George – is a painting of St Christopher, with a staff in his hands and the Christ-child perched on his left shoulder.

St Christopher was the patron saint of travellers, explains Fr Antony. "He is the first person you see as you come in. In medieval times, people going off to work the fields could see through the door, see St Christopher, and be blessed for the day."

To see these magnificent wall paintings is to get a true sense of what the inside of an English church might have looked like in the days before the Reformation.

The paintings at St Peter and St Paul are thought to have been commissioned in 1450, and were painted the following decade. It was not at all unusual for churches to be painted in this way in the medieval period, according to the Pickering church's website.

"Virtually all churches in England in the Middle Ages and up to the early 16th century had paintings on their wall," it says. "Not all had so many … as those found in Pickering church but most had some."

The paintings served to decorate plastered walls – and may also have been used by the parish priest to teach his congregation about saints and general morality.

"Paintings such as these were referred to as the Biblia Pauperum, the poor man's Bible, and can be considered as a visual aid to help the congregation assimilate basic teachings," says the church website.

Fr Antony still uses them for teaching to this day. "I've used different parts of them before a sermon to talk about the Gospels."

Scarcely 100 years after they were painted, however, these wonderful works of art were covered up during the Protestant Reformation. It was to be another 300 years before they were to see the light of day again.

The story goes that the paintings were first rediscovered in 1852, when a thick coat of plaster was removed from the nave walls. "And, hey presto, there were all these amazing paintings," Fr Antony says.

Visitors flocked to see them, and the architect William Hey Dykes made sketches and wrote a paper entitled On Certain Mural Paintings Recently Discovered In Pickering Church for the Associated Architectural Societies. But the vicar at the time, a Rev F Ponsonby, did not much approve.

"He said they were Popish!" Fr Antony said.

The official church guide notes that they were covered again by a heavy coat of whitewash - until, during extensive renovations in 1876, it was decided to uncover them again and restore them.

Today, they comprise one of the most complete sets of medieval wall paintings in Britain – and are again a firm favourite with visitors.

Some of the scenes depicted are truly remarkable – including the scene, on the nave's south wall, depicting the Harrowing of Hell.

It shows Christ, after his death on the cross, descending into hell to minister to the lost souls who had died without knowing him. It is a story from the apocrypha which did not make it into the Bible we all know today, but it is an extraordinarily striking painting.

The gaping jaws of a dragon represent the jaws of hell itself. Christ is seen holding the hand of Adam (who is still clutching his apple), with Eve standing nearby together with other lost souls. "I love the way he (Christ) is holding Adam's hand," Fr Antony said.

Fr Antony has been at St Peter and St Paul for about five years, since moving from his last parish in Barnsley. But even now, he says, he still often finds himself gazing at the paintings in awe and admiration.

"The detail, the quality, is just wonderful. Every Sunday, as the altar is being cleared away, I can just look at them and be thrilled."

They deserve to be better known than they are, he said.

"About three to four weeks ago somebody came into the church and said 'My husband and I have lived here for 40 years but we're never come into the church. We'd heard about the paintings but didn't think they would be up to much…"

How wrong they were.

St Peter and St Paul, Church Hill, Pickering, YO18 7HL
www.pickeringchurch.com
www.acny.org.uk/19532
Open daily: 9-5pm
Principal Sunday Services: 8am, 10am, 6pm.
Contact: The Rev'd Fr Anthony Pritchett
Tel: 01751 472983
email: vicar@pickeringchurch.com

The events diary is on the website
Access for wheelchairs via Hallgarth and passage way to churchyard.
Cafés, shops, pay & display car park and WC's nearby.
Other local attractions: North Yorkshire Heritage Railway.
Transport: buses from York, Malton, Whitby, Scarborough and Helmsley.