Medieval History
Several years ago, in a remote corner of rural Norfolk, a discovery was that is as romantic and resonant as anything in the JL Carr novel A Month in the Country
. During repairs to the crumbling church of St Mary's at Houghton-on-the-Hill, a sequence of astonishing frescoes dating from shortly after the Norman conquest came to light.
The church is the last survivor of a lost medieval village, which like so many other communities in the mid-14th century succumbed to the ravages of plague and then to the fatal slide of declining populations. Yet in St Mary's we can see, as in a palimpsest, the legacy of a faith that was vital and inspiring. Confronted by the solemn saints, and the faces of damned and elect that coolly return our gaze after countless years, we are able to enter imaginatively into a system of belief that was this society's heartbeat.
It is no accident that one of the most significant of the frescoes uncovered in this ancient building depicts a wheel of fortune, a popular motif in the middle ages used to illustrate the inexorable ups and downs of day-to-day existence. Religion both reflected and made sense of the capriciousness of fate, while also offering the prospect of eventual relief from struggle.
Click here to read this article from The Guardian
- Church Discovery Sheds Light On Medieval Mystery
A community archaeology project entirely run by volunteers has made a remarkable discovery in a remote Norfolk priory that could help to shed light upon one of British architectures greatest mysteries. The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey (NMGS) was established...
- £15.7 Million Given Out To Repair 154 Churches In England
English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced this week more than £15.7 million to support urgent repair work to 154 churches across England, including many dating back to the Middle Ages. The grants were awarded under the organisations?...
- Medieval Wall Paintings Uncovered At Kövi/kame?any
Saint Anne with the Virgin at KöviThe village of Kövi (Kame?any, SK) lies in the vicinity of Rimaszombat (Rimavská Sobota) and Rozsnyó (Ro??ava), just north of the modern border between Hungary and Slovakia. In the middle ages, the settlement had...
- Medieval Wall Paintings Discovered At Magyarlóna
Cover of the book on Magyarlóna The village of Magyarlóna (formerly known as Szászlóna, now Luna de Sus, Romania) is a characteristic village of the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania, near Kolozsvár (Cluj). The village was first mentioned...
- A Friday Indulgence - Medieval Stained Glass Heads From Norfolk
So much of English medieval stained glass survives as isolated fragments.. At Warham in North Norfolk, is an extraordinary collection of such fragments, mostly heads. They are the heads of saints, angels, kings, queens, bishops and clergy...
Medieval History
Holy faces from the past: Early frescoes in a Norfolk village remind us of our medieval churches' more lively past
Several years ago, in a remote corner of rural Norfolk, a discovery was that is as romantic and resonant as anything in the JL Carr novel A Month in the Country
. During repairs to the crumbling church of St Mary's at Houghton-on-the-Hill, a sequence of astonishing frescoes dating from shortly after the Norman conquest came to light.The church is the last survivor of a lost medieval village, which like so many other communities in the mid-14th century succumbed to the ravages of plague and then to the fatal slide of declining populations. Yet in St Mary's we can see, as in a palimpsest, the legacy of a faith that was vital and inspiring. Confronted by the solemn saints, and the faces of damned and elect that coolly return our gaze after countless years, we are able to enter imaginatively into a system of belief that was this society's heartbeat.
It is no accident that one of the most significant of the frescoes uncovered in this ancient building depicts a wheel of fortune, a popular motif in the middle ages used to illustrate the inexorable ups and downs of day-to-day existence. Religion both reflected and made sense of the capriciousness of fate, while also offering the prospect of eventual relief from struggle.
Click here to read this article from The Guardian
- Church Discovery Sheds Light On Medieval Mystery
A community archaeology project entirely run by volunteers has made a remarkable discovery in a remote Norfolk priory that could help to shed light upon one of British architectures greatest mysteries. The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey (NMGS) was established...
- £15.7 Million Given Out To Repair 154 Churches In England
English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced this week more than £15.7 million to support urgent repair work to 154 churches across England, including many dating back to the Middle Ages. The grants were awarded under the organisations?...
- Medieval Wall Paintings Uncovered At Kövi/kame?any
Saint Anne with the Virgin at KöviThe village of Kövi (Kame?any, SK) lies in the vicinity of Rimaszombat (Rimavská Sobota) and Rozsnyó (Ro??ava), just north of the modern border between Hungary and Slovakia. In the middle ages, the settlement had...
- Medieval Wall Paintings Discovered At Magyarlóna
Cover of the book on Magyarlóna The village of Magyarlóna (formerly known as Szászlóna, now Luna de Sus, Romania) is a characteristic village of the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania, near Kolozsvár (Cluj). The village was first mentioned...
- A Friday Indulgence - Medieval Stained Glass Heads From Norfolk
So much of English medieval stained glass survives as isolated fragments.. At Warham in North Norfolk, is an extraordinary collection of such fragments, mostly heads. They are the heads of saints, angels, kings, queens, bishops and clergy...