IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT THIS PAGE PLEASE DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO STOP THE DEATH BY STONING SENTENCES BEING CARRIED OUT ON SAKINEH MOHAMMEDI ASHTIANI AND OTHER WOMEN IN TABRIZ AND ELSEWHERE IN IRAN. LET SUCH BARBARITY STAY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. THANK YOU. ANNE MARSHALL STORY HERE

Find North Stoke on a map

This painting, from the north wall at North Stoke, is one of the clearest in the church, although it is high in the top tier of paintings and thus difficult to see. Few representations of Stephen’s story (in Acts 6-7) remain, and this is in all likelihood the clearest in the English parish church. This particular incident is very competently painted indeed.
At the left is the the High Priest of the Jerusalem temple council, before whom Stephen was called to answer for blasphemy. He wears some kind of crown-like headgear and his crossed legs mark him out as a tyrant or persecutor. Stephen, his hand raised to signify speech, stands further right, wearing the high-collared dalmatic appropriate to a deacon, and holding a book. Beyond him at the right stands a guard wearing a pointed hood, but it is impossible to be sure whether this man’s apparently dog-like face is simply a result of wear and tear over the centuries or a deliberate attempt to present him as brutally grotesque like his fellow in the second painting below.

Stephen’s long address to the Council inflamed matters further, and he was cast out of the city and stoned to death. The scene of his stoning at North Stoke is less clear, but it is shown here at the right. The left side of this second scene shows three of the mob responsible for Stephen’s death, with the man second from the left holding a basket of stones. Stephen himself, identifiable by his dark dalmatic, stands right of centre, his arm extended towards an angel, its wing faintly visible at the top edge of the painting, about to take his soul to Heaven. At the far right, a stone in each hand, stands another man with exaggeratedly grotesque features and a closely fitting pointed hood. This is typical of torturer’s garb and physiognomy in wall paintings of this period, and there are a number of comparable examples on this site - the Passion Cycle at Great Tew, also in Oxfordhire and contemporary with these paintings, is one such.

Parts of a Passion Cycle, along with a fragmentary Doom and a few other paintings are still visible at North Stoke, and I will add these to the site at a future update. The Murder of Thomas Becket is already here.

Website for St Mary the Virgin, North Stoke

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

15/8/2009

© Anne Marshall 2009