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This is the church of All Saints (there is also a church dedicated to St. Nicholas in Little Kimble), and it still retains many of the paintings of saints which would once have covered the walls. All are fine paintings by an anonymous but very accomplished 14th-century artist.

The elegantly posed saint, standing with shield and lance, rather than on horseback, wears the chainmail armour of the earlier fourteenth century. His white surcoat and the shield in his left hand bear his red cross, and this is repeated in the square ailletes he wears on his shoulders. Beside his right hand is another shield, very obscure now, but once bearing the three lions passant gardant of England. Below the figure, in Lombardic capitals, is an identifying inscription reading GEORGIUS.

There is no sign of the Dragon, although this might once have been shown somewhere near the saint’s right foot. The Princess, however, saved by George from becoming a propitiatory sacrifice to the Dragon, is painted at the upper right. Tristram described her as “holding in her right hand a ball from which hangs in festoon a long thread, its end held in her other hand.”¹. The enlarged detail shown at the right seems to bear this out, but it is much harder to be sure what the details of the ‘ball and thread’ imply. Spinning is an obvious possibility, although the posture seems wrong for that, but in any case, according to the story (more details of which are on the page for St. George at Broughton), the princess, when all had ended happily, led the Dragon by her girdle.
This is what is happening here, I think, and there may even be an element of deliberate mockery in the princess’s triumphantly graceful pose, grasping the ‘reins’ of her vanquished enemy.

Of the other paintings in the church S. Francis preaching to the birds is newly here, and a Burial of St. Catherine will be here soon. All are, like this painting, equally skilled and show a similar eye for the telling details of narrative. Three hundred years after they were made, All Saints would become the parish church of the Buckinghamshire landowner John Hampden, who famously defied King Charles 1 over Ship Money.

¹ Tristram 111, p.188

Website for All Saints, Little Kimble

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 : Little Kimble, Bucks NEW	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	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Pickering, N. Yorks NEW	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	Martyrdom of St. Margaret, Ashby St Ledgers, Northamptonshire 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. Nicholas of Myra & the Boys in the Barrel, Padworth, Berkshire NEW	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	S. Stephen, Martyrdom of, North Stoke, Oxon NEW
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
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

6/5/2004

© Anne Marshall 2004