This article was written by the son of John Woodruff ,Vicar of Upchurch,my ancestor
THIRTEENTH CENTURY WALL-PAINTING
BY CUMBERLAND H. WOODRUFF, F.S.A.
IK the course of some repairs to the church in 1839 a
remarkable painting was discovered on the wall of the south
aisle of the nave at Upchurch. The work was again plastered
over, to be re-discovered when the church was under restoration in 1875. The design was then carefully copied, and
plates from the drawing are given in Archaologia Oanticuna,
(Vol. XI., page 42), accompanied by some illustrative notes
by the late Canon Scott Robertson. These plates are now
reproduced, together with an attempt to elucidate the subject
of the painting. Canon Eobertsonr
describes the figures
as follows: " High up, beneath the wall-plate of the south
wall, there is a long series of figures, boldly sketched with
broad black outlines, but very sparingly coloured. These
figures form six distinct scenes, and extend along the whole
wall, between the south door and the arch of the south
chancel. The space thus occupied by the painting is about
17 feet long by 4 feet wide. The figures vary from 2 feet
9 inches to 3 feet in height."
The painting has been mutilated for the purpose of
inserting a Decorated window,* which, as Canon Robertson
pointed out, suggests the Early English date of the work,
and that this series of painted figures adorned the south aisle
of the fabric in the thirteenth century. The drawing was
submitted to Mr. J. G. Waller, a good authority on wall-
* The date of this window is accurately fixed by another of like design, and
evidently inserted at the same time, ia the wall to the westward. Over the apex
of this window a stone bears the date oocoo (1800), a rare example of an
early dated window.
Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 25 1902
THIRTEENTH CENTURY WALL-PAINTING. 8&
paintings, and he expressed his opinion that the subject was
of unusual interest, and gave his description of the painting
as it apparently read. Mr. Waller added that the Bishop,
the important person in these scenes, ought to be nimbed,
and that he had no doubt of being able to find out the
subject, but that it would require some research. I am. not
aware whether Mr. Waller's attention was again called to
the matter, but it does not appear that any further attempt
at explanation was made.
An Upchurch will, proved in the Archdeacon's Court and
preserved in the Registry of the Probate Office at Canterbury,
gave a clue to the interpretation of the legend.
The will of Peter Danyell, made in 1478, mentions the
light of St. Sperablis in this church. No saint answers to
this name in the Calendar, but just as the painting itself had
probably been covered over and hidden when the church was
remodelled at the beginning of the fourteenth century, so
the name of the saint commemorated seems to have fallen
into like oblivion. I think a careful examination of the
painting will prove that the Upchurch testator's unknown
saint was none other than St. Spiridon (or Spiridion), bishop
of Trimithus in Cyprus in the fourth century: a great
Eastern saint, but not one whom we should have expected to
find in this place
It would not be easy to account for the commemoration
of the wonder-working Eastern Saint in so unexpected a
quarter, but we may conjecture that, directly or indirectly,
the Crusades brought his fame and cult to our shores.
Possibly an Upchurch shipmaster in peril in the Levant may
have attributed his delivery to the intercession of St. Spiridon,
and caused his legend to be depicted on the wall of the
Kentish church.
