memento mori

Left The wall paintings on the south wall of the south aisle at St Cadoc’s church, Llancarfan, Vale of Glamorgan, with the magnificent St George in the centre and Death and the Gallant to the left. Higher up is the princess rescued by St George and her royal parents peering anxiously from the battlements of their palace. To the right is the Virgin blessing the scene beneath the shield of the probable sponsor (the Bawdrip family, of nearby Fonmon Castle), and beyond are depictions of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Lost and found: wall paintings and rood-screens in Welsh churches

In response to the Black Lives Matter protests of June 2020, influential voices within the Anglican church called for the removal of every monument and stained-glass window commemorating people connected with slavery and empire. Ideologically motivated change on such a scale might seem unprecedented, but it has happened time and again throughout history, not least in the 16th and 17th centuries when wall paintings were obliterated and rood-lofts demolished. New discoveries remind us what we have lost, as Chris Catling reports.