Dr Miriam Gill from Vaughan College, Leicester, kindly came to Hallaton to give a lecture that formed part of the Festival of Archaeology. Her subject was why the Sistine Chapel is highly decorated and Hallaton is painted white. As an expert in medieval wall-painting she certainly gave a full and varied talk with an enormous number of slides to illustrate her points and covered a large number of churches with a variety of wall paintings, some barely visible and others in a remarkable state of good repair. Some of the examples shown were in Wenlock, Cardiff and Wiltshire, but perhaps for us locals the huge amount of nearby churches given as examples was interesting. There were slides of wall paintings in the churches of Allexton, Cold Overton, Ridlington, Lyddington and Stoke Dry among others.  We were shown a very clear slide of the wall painting of Three Living and Three Dead in St Mary’s, Raunds, Northamptonshire this very fine example of its kind is well worth a visit

The Reformation was responsible for a huge amount of damage and iconoclasm and any reference to Roman Catholicism was destroyed as it was thought to be idolatrous and against one of the commandments. But this destruction didn’t always go to plan for example at Lyddingon the rood screen was thought to be destroyed but in a good light can still be seen.
Falling congregations due to plagues were also responsible for the decline in wall art upkeep and gradually stained glass windows became more popular as they were more resilient.
As an answer to why the Sistine is today highly colourful one of the answers is climate, Hallaton is cold and damp most of the time, but as we know Italy is not!

There is a very appropriate painting of the Ale Wives in Coventry who are also mentioned in the current exhibition in the Tin-Tab museum: Ale Tales. All the wives are wearing hugely elaborate hats showing their financial worth thanks to their ale making, and independence from their husbands which didn’t go down well with the dominant males!
As Phil Gilbert gave a heartfelt vote of thanks to Dr Miriam, he couldn’t help but mention the ale wives and their attire, it had obviously tickled his sense of humour!
A splendid evening!

Mo Hollier