In the central tier, part of the painting - it is uncertain how much - is missing at the lefthand side, but at the left now (detail, right) Margaret stands with both hands upraised in a standard attitude suggesting in this case remonstrance, probably with Olybrius, who is in all likelihood the figure implied by a chairleg and part of a seat at the lefthand edge. Further right, Margaret is arrested, beaten with clubs, and then pushed through a Gothic-arched doorway into prison by a jailer with another club (centre of picture). Finally, at the right, the bending figure of Margaret is seen disappearing into the mouth of a red dragon with huge scaly claws. It is a great pity that so much of this dragon - an unusual example - has been damaged. But a hand and arm - a version of the Manus Dei - reaches out from a star-studded heaven at the top right in a gesture of blessing.

In the lowest panel (shown left) the story continues. At the left, Margaret is shown, quite upright and possibly with her hands clasped in prayer, emerging directly from the dragon’s belly. The creature’s backbone seems to have burst asunder in the process - at least this seems to be the meaning of the detail to the right, where something like a chain of articulated vertebrae loops down between the legs of the man arresting Margaret for the second time.

After her miraculous escape from the dragon, Margaret suffered various tortures, some of them painted in the English church, as at Battle in Sussex, where she is shown hung up by her hair and beaten. Charlwood’s version of the story is more selective, and at the right in this tier (above, right of picture) she is shown standing, and although it is very difficult to see now, thrusting the end of her cross-staff into the mouth of the dragon, on whose defeated head she now stands. She holds something else in her left hand, but I cannot identify this.

Beyond Margaret at the right, a crowned figure seated on a throne seals her fate (detail, right). This figure, in the center of the scene, is probably not the governor Olybrius, whose rank would not seem to merit a crown², and it may be intended for the Emperor Diocletian, in whose reign, according to her Legend, Margaret and those she converted were beheaded. Or this may be simply a generic authority-figure.
At any rate, at the far right, an executioner raises his sword to decapitate Margaret, who is just visible at the right hand edge, kneeling with hands held in prayer as the executioner grasps her by the hair. Above her, her soul is shown in the form of a white dove flying up to heaven.

The painting has a complicated restoration history and various published articles from the late 19th and early 20th centuries tend to confuse rather than clarify understanding. Apart from some later cleaning and retouching it was restored to its present state by Eve Baker in the 1960s³. Similarities to the paintings of the same subject in the Queen Mary Psalter (BM. MS. Royal 23, vii) have been remarked on in several of the early articles mentioned above. The painting is certainly of very high quality, as is the less well-preserved Three Living & Three Dead, beside it on the south wall at Charlwood.

Another, less well preserved Life of St. Margaret, at Wendens Ambo in Essex is now on the site. It is in some ways very similar to the Charlwood example, but there are some vital differences as well.

¹ I cannot find a source for this claim. It may be true, nevertheless.
² Although he evidently had one, not visible now, at Wendens Ambo
³ T. Organ, St. Nicholas Church, Charlwood, Surrey. Report on the cleaning and conservation of the 14th & 15th century mural paintings in the nave carried out in June 1993, The Wall Paintings Workshop, Faversham, Kent.

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. Hubert, Miracle of : Idsworth, Hants	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 NEW	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 NEW
St. Margaret of Antioch Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Margaret of Antioch, Life of : Charlwood, Surrey	Life of St. Margaret, Wendens Ambo, Essex	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. Peter : Beckley, Oxon	St.Peter : Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Peter, Martyrdom of : Chacombe, Northants	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 NEW	St. Thomas Becket, blessing, Hauxton, Cambs.	St. Thomas Becket, Murder of, Marston Magna, Somerset	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