A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



below by bands of thin foliage with a leafage of trefoil. Each episode of the 

 legend was displayed by groups of three or four persons, ending with that of 

 the miraculous fracture of the wheel, the decollation of the saint, and her 

 burial on Mount Sinai, The figures throughout were poor in drawing, the 

 faces caricatures, and the grouping childish.^ 



Another painting of the same subject, but more elaborately treated, is 

 to be seen on the wall of the south aisle of the nave of the church at Sporle, 

 near Castle Acre, in central Norfolk. Here, a rectangular panel 1 1 feet 

 5 inches in length by 7 feet 8 inches in height is marked out on the wall 

 surface, having as a frame a border composed of a zigzag ribbon, red and 

 white on a black ground. The space enclosed within this frame is divided 

 by red lines into twenty-two squares and three double squares in chessboard 

 fashion. Each square contains a separate scene of the story, which is illus- 

 trated by the painter with an emphasis absolutely grotesque. The series of 

 pictures is of some value as giving examples of the costume of the time ; but 

 as a work of art it has no value. The prevailing colour is red and the 

 general effect crude.' Yet these paintings at Limpenhoe and at Sporle 

 represent the average merit of the pictorial art in the village churches of the 

 period in question. 



Far more interesting were the paintings formerly to be seen in another 

 of the churches of the district of the Broads, that of Catfield.' These were 

 found in 1840, but at a subsequent period they were ruthlessly whitewashed 

 over. The various compositions occupied the wall spaces over the nave 

 arcades, on the north side somewhat irregularly disposed, but on the south 

 side as a frieze in compartments, the depth of the frieze occupying the space 

 between the cornice of the roof and the tops of the arches on that side. 



Most of the subjects depicted were of no unusual character, but the 

 first three, which belonged to the class of moral allegories, were interesting 

 and worthy of note, as also was the completeness and order of the scheme of 

 pictorial representation. The first picture of the series on the north side, in 

 the half spandril at the west end, represented Fortune, a crowned female 

 figure in crimson robe and overmantle of green lined with fur, her hands 

 resting on the spokes of a huge wheel in front of her, which she was in the 

 act of turning. Within the wheel a part of an inscription remained, which, 

 when perfect, evidently read fortunae rota. From the eastern side a king, 

 in robes of light green and gold colour, is falling. He is still crowned, but 

 his sword is dropping from his hand. A label near him has the word 

 Regnavi upon it. Beneath, lying as if in death, is another kingly figure, a 

 label beside it declaring non regno. The next spandril contained a picture, 

 much damaged in the upper part, of what is known as the Tree of the Seven 

 Deadly Sins. From a gigantic head with jaws armed with formidable teeth, 

 occupying the point of the spandril, rose the trunk of a tree bearing seven 

 branches, three on each side, with one upright formed by a continuation of 

 the trunk. These branches ended in dragons with bats' wings and huge 

 heads furnished with gaping jaws. Behind each head stood a fiend grasping 



1 These wall paintings have been long since destroyed, but illustrations of them may be seen in Norfi 

 Arch. (1859), V. 221. • Ncif. Arch. (1872), vii. 303, et. seq. 



^ Norf. Arch. (1847), i. 133, et. seq., and the Dawson Turner collection. Add. MSS. B.M. 23027, 

 pp. 149-168. 



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