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St. Bartholomew & St. John the Evangelist : Selling, Kent (Canterbury) Early C.14

Photos:T.Marshall St. Bartholomew, Selling (53KB)
Pictured at the left is St. Bartholomew. This is a rare sighting of the saint, who is not common anywhere. There is a 13th century painting of him in a window splay, much mutilated, at Tidmarsh in Berkshire, again paired as here with St. John the Evangelist, and one in a splay beside the Doom at Chalgrove in Oxfordshire, where, in a painting contemporary with this one, he is paired with St. Laurence. At Maresfield in Sussex, a church dedicated to Bartholomew, a 12th century painting, thought to be of his Martyrdom, is recorded, but that church was radically restored in 1878/9 and its paintings lost.

But the Selling painting of him is the clearest and most complete of all the paintings of Apostles - Peter and Paul¹ are also shown - in the church. He holds up the instrument of his martyrdom, the knife with which his skin was flayed from his body, gesturing towards it with his left hand. His hair and beard are curly and his robes are the generalised kind seen in representations of Apostles who have no specific association with clerical vestments, as indeed are those of St. John the Evangelist below. St. John the Evangelist, Selling (47KB)

John, pictured right, is as usual a youthful figure (the painter has suggested a downy fuzz on his chin, hard to see clearly here). In his left hand he once held a book, now gone with damaged plaster, and in his right he has a long scroll, which curves down beside him to rest on the head of his attribute, the Eagle, painted below at his feet. The figure is superimposed on a grid-like ‘stoning and roses’ pattern, found, along with a plain masonry pattern, quite extensively in other parts of the church (all the Apostle paintings are in the south transept).

Peter and Paul, the two other Apostles, are also reasonably clear, and they will be on the site soon. Also at Selling is a magnificent East Window, bricked up at the Reformation, hence its survival, in the chancel. It has a fine Virgin and Child, along with other saints and various coats-of-arms, some of them royal. These have been identified as the arms of Edward 1 (1272-1302), and the window itself is generally reckoned to have been installed in around 1300. The paintings are perhaps a little later, but I think they date from the first, rather than the second, half of the 14th century.

¹ Although not one of the original twelve, often found in their company in medieval times

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

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27/7/2002