Gallery Title
Gallery Title
panel
Accession Number NWHCM : L1974.30
Description
15th century Screen fragment with painted panels from St. Gregory's Church, Norwich, Norfolk. Painted fragment of dado of rood screen depicting an angel, St. Barbara and possibly John the Baptist, identified from a print of the screen by Cornelius Jansson Walter Winter NWHCM : 1954.138.Todd8.Wymer.45 where figure of a man holding a book and cross and pointing to a lamb, symbols typically associated with John the Baptist. St. Barbara holding a castellated tower in her right hand. Heads of saints are framed by carved guilded flowers and scalloped edge. Centre panel has a name scratched into the paint across the centre of the figure, there is more evidence of carved 'graffiti' on the right hand side of the wooden surround. A large hole has been drilled through the figure on the right hand side. Top has a line of tacks with fabric remenants.
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This section of a 15th Century chancel screen is the only surviving part of a much larger structure which originally sat in the Church of St Gregory in Norwich. The screen would have been used to divide the chancel and the altar from the nave.
These panels are a reminder of the rich medieval history of Norwich; a city which has more standing medieval churches, over thirty, than any other city north of the Alps. The Church of St Gregory is located on Pottergate Street in the centre of Norwich and would once have had a striking interior in the Middle Ages. Several wall paintings, including one of St George and the dragon, can still be seen in the redundant church.
The panels here depict an angel, St Barbara and John the Baptist. Several examples of historical graffiti can be seen carved into the screen including a name scratched into the paint across the central figure and a name inscribed into the wooden surround. These panels allow us to glimpse into the prosperous medieval past of Norwich.
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