The clearer scene in the second tier shows the incident involving fifty philosophers ordered by Maxentius to argue Catherine from her faith. Instead, she converted them, and the Emperor had them thrown, unbaptised, into the fire. At the left, Catherine stands under the narrower of two painted canopies above the scene. To her right is the seated Maxentius, making the dramatically downward pointing gesture that sealed the philosophers’ fate. They are shown at the far right, huddled together with the flames rising around them. The standing figure in the centre is difficult to pronounce on. He may be an executioner throwing logs on the fire or holding an upright curved sword to prevent any escape. But above him is a red ochre shape in what looks like a flying posture - this is, perhaps, an angel coming down to confirm the philosophers’ baptism of fire. Below, in the lowest tier, is the best known incident in Catherine’s story, the attempt to break her on the wheel. There are two wheels here, one in the centre and one at the right, and some paintings of Catherine, particularly in manuscripts, have more. Catherine stands once more at the far left, bound and stripped to the waist, with the central wheel further right and an executioner turning the handle. There is what looks like a further, seated, figure, probably Maxentius again, beside him. Catherine is shown again standing between this turning wheel and another at the far right.

Catherine survived this ordeal (she was finally beheaded) because of heavenly intervention. In some versions of her legend, a thunderbolt breaks the wheels, killing bystanders. An imaginative late 15th century interpretation in the Simon Marmion Hours¹ shows the two wheels breaking apart and simultaneously bursting into flames as an angel with a mallet hovers above. An angel in the Castor example is shown just above Catherine’s head, and may be about to intervene in a similar way.
There are no other wall paintings now visible at Castor, but much else of great interest survives from the Middle Ages, including fine Saxon carving. It is the only church in Britain dedicated to St.Kyneburgha, a daughter of the stubbornly pagan King Penda of Mercia.

¹ Illustrated in Books of Hours and their Owners, John Harthan, Thames & Hudson, 1977, p. 146 [V&A, London, Salting Collection, No.1221, fol.15v-16]

St. Andrew Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read-Corby Glen, Lincolnshire	St. Antony and the Pig, Barton, Cambridgeshire	St. Barbara : Hessett, Suffolk	St. Bartholomew : Selling, Kent	St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Castor, Cambs	St.Catherine of Alexandria : Hardley Street, Norfolk
St.Catherine of Alexandria : Old Weston, Northants	St.Catherine of Alexandria : Pickering, N. Yorks	St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Sporle, Norfolk	St. Clement : South Leigh, Oxon.	St. Dunstan holding the Devil by the nose : Barton, Cambs	St.Edmund : Boxford, Suffolk	St. Edmund : Lakenheath, Suffolk
St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Bishopsbourne, Kent	St.Edmund, Martyrdom of : Fritton, Norfolk	St. Edmund (or St. Walstan) : Gisleham, Norfolk	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Pickering, N.Yorks	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Troston, Suffolk	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Weare Giffard, Devon
St.Eloi, Broughton, Bucks	St. Eloi and the possessed horse, Slapton, Northants	St. Eloi, as bishop & blacksmith, Wensley, N.Yorks	St.Erasmus, Martyrdom of : Chippenham, Cambs	St. Etheldreda : Willingham, Cambs	St.Francis Preaching to the Birds : Wissington, Suffolk	St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, Slapton, Northants
St. George & Dragon : Banningham, Norfolk	St. George & Dragon : Broughton, Bucks	St. George & Dragon : Earl Stonham, Suffolk	St. George & Dragon : Fritton, Norfolk	St. George & Dragon : Hornton, Oxon	St. George dedicating himself to the Virgin : Astbury, Cheshire	St. George, with the princess : Little Kimble, Bucks
St.Helena, Broughton, Bucks	St.James the Great : Hales, Norfolk	Life of St. James, Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire	St. James the Great, meeting pilgrims : Wisborough Green, Sussex	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Heydon, Norfolk	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Idsworth, Hampshire
St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Old Weston, Northants	Life of St. John the Baptist : Cerne Abbas, Dorset	St. John the Evangelist, Selling, Kent	St. John the Evangelist, Weston Longville, Norfolk	St. Margaret of Antioch : Old Weston, Northants	St. Margaret and the dragon : South Newington, Oxfordshire	St. Margaret of Antioch Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland
St. Margaret of Antioch, Life of : Charlwood, Surrey	Life of St. Margaret, Wendens Ambo, Essex	Martyrdom of St. Margaret, Duxford, Cambridgeshire NEW	St. Martin dividing his cloak, Chalgrave, Beds	St. Martin dividing his cloak, Wareham, Dorset	St.Nicholas of Myra, life of : Little Horwood, Bucks	St. Nicholas of Myra, two miracles of : Wissington, Suffolk
St.Paul : Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Paul : Beckley, Oxon	St. Paul : Selling, Kent	St. Peter : Beckley, Oxon	St.Peter : Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Peter, Martyrdom of : Chacombe, Northants	St. Peter : Selling, Kent
St. Roch : Pinvin, Worcs	St. Sexburga? : Willingham, Cambs	St. Stephen, Stoning of: Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Stephen, Stoning of: Catfield, Norfolk	St.Swithun (?) enthroned : Old Weston, Northants	Scenes from the life of St. Swithun : Corhampton, Hampshire	St. Thomas Becket, blessing, Hauxton, Cambs.
St. Thomas Becket, Murder of, Marston Magna, Somerset	St. Thomas Becket, Murder of, North Stoke, Oxfordshire NEW	St.Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Burlingham, Norfolk	St. Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Newington, Oxfordshire	St. Walstan of Bawburgh? or St. Edmund : Gisleham, Norfolk	St. Zita : Horley, Oxon	St. Zita : Shorthampton, Oxon
Unidentified female saint : Heydon

25/10/00

© Anne Marshall 2000