" Also on the North Wall can be seen Mural Paintings of unusual interest, particularly that of the Madonna to whom the Church is dedicated. Prior to 1962 this painting had been partially visible and in 1962, along with other paintings was restored by an expert who was a Mrs Baker; she was engaged through the auspices of The Pilgrim Trust.

Her initial comments regarding the Madonna are as follows “I discovered a text partially obscuring the painting, which is of 14th Century date. And I cleaned off the text to reveal an extremely lovely painting finely drawn and over life size in scale. It is probably an altar painting, bearing in mind the dedication of the church. I know of no better painting of this subject - it is the most entirely satisfactory treatment I have ever seen”.

The Virgin is crowned with her long hair flowing over her shoulders, and she is suckling her Child who is supported on her left knee, with tracings of censing angels on either side and a bird can just be made out on top of the canopy - possible a falcon.

The boldness of the drawing and the treatment of the eyes are typical of the period (XIVth Century).
The long hair is said to have been a sign of virginity but the crown is unusual, although it has been known as far back as the XIIth Century when a sceptre was sometimes seen - as Queen of Heaven. The figure at the bottom right of the painting is thought to be the Patron worshipping the Virgin with his beads. The painting is reminiscent of that at Great Canfield in Essex, which is attributed to Matthew Paris, and could well be by the same hand. "

" Tristram has a brief description of this particularly beautiful painting of the Virgin suckling the Christ Child, but only part of it was visible to him before it was restored by Eve Baker for the Pilgrim Trust in 1962.²

The figures of the Virgin and the Child, along with the elaborate canopy above the Virgin’s head, need little elucidation, beyond suggesting that this is a more obviously ‘devotional’ painting than those at either Beckley (linked to a theme of Judgement and retribution) or Faversham (part of a Nativity series). There might once have been an altar below the painting, as suggested by Eve Baker, especially since censing angels were once visible on either side of the central group of figures.

There is certainly another figure visible – kneeling or standing at the lower right, with upraised hands. Mrs Baker also suggested that this might be the patron praying his rosary (there is a group of red dots that might be rosary beads). The church was in the patronage of the Benedictine Priory of Earl’s Colne in the 14th century, and this figure might indeed be the donor of the painting. A faint suggestion of a tonsure on the kneeling man would support the idea, but I am nevertheless uncertain.

The unique feature here though is the inclusion of two perching birds. A small falcon or hawk, possibly a kestrel or perhaps a sparrowhawk, appropriate to a cleric (the Canon Law prohibition on hawking by priests was widely flouted), is on the central pinnacle of the canopy over the Virgin’s head, and a smaller bird on the left-hand (onlooker’s viewpoint) finial of her throne. As well as these, there is a suggestion that the kneeling figure is holding up before the Virgin something that might be another bird, with narrow tapering wings held upright. An alternative or additional possibility then is that this a man, donor or not, offering up an image of a hawk along with prayers for the healing of a real one, as in the well-documented 1368 case of Nicholas de Litlington, Abbot of Westminster³. At any rate it is hard to escape the feeling that the birds in this painting must have more than merely decorative significance.

Apart from the two paintings linked above on this page, there are very few other examples of the Virgin suckling the Christ Child left in the English parish church; the only other one known to me, at Great Canfield, also in Essex, will be here soon. All four of them show the Virgin crowned as Queen of Heaven and with loose hair, as here.