SCREENS IN EAST ANGLIA by Tom Muckley
striking features of the great churches of East
Anglia are roofs, bench ends and screens, and to
a lesser extent, fonts. All gave the medieval
craftsman scope for carving and coloured
decoration, and though subject to decay and
vandalism over the centuries, a good deal remains
to delight us today.
The purpose of the screen was to divide the
chancel, with its altar, from the nave, which was
often used for secular purposes. It was an
invariable part of the furnishing of every church
until the Reformation, usually placed directly
beneath the chancel arch, though sometimes
brought forward slightly so that it could stretch
right across the nave and aisles. The screen was
generally surmounted by a loft, upon which stood
the Rood, a giant figure of Christ crucified. The
Reformation saw the destruction of virtually
every Rood and the great majority of lofts,
though the screens themselves were often spared
as they were a useful feature in the ordering of
the church. Most figure sculpture and painting
depicted thereon, however, was generally defaced.
The two principal areas where screens remain are
East Anglia and the South-West, though the two
types differ radically. East Anglia in the Middle
Ages was the richer of the two areas, and the
churches are therefore bigger and loftier. So in
Norfolk and Suffolk the typical screen rises much
higher than in the south-west, has tall, narrow
openings and very slender posts between the bays,
and a general air of lightness and elegance.
examples of stone screens remain in Suffolk and
Cambridgeshire, it is wooden screens for which Norfolk is
famous, and parts of more than two hundred are said to
remain. From the fourteenth century there are screens at Merton, Watlington and Thompson, in which the heads of the
open upper part are decorated with curvilinear tracery
above the heads of the arches. The similarly early
screens at Edingthorpe and Hempstead are distinguished not only
by their tracery, but by the exceptional quality of the
painting on the dado. The great majority of screens date
from the fifteenth century, and their open work
decoration is of three main types. Firstly, those in
which the openings have arches reaching to the bressumer,
decorated simply with rows of cusping. Secondly, those
which have additional ogee arches inserted below the arch
heads; these ogees are richly crocketed and surmounted by
finials rising to the main arch heads. Thirdly, there are
some which are similar to the last type but have a
complex fretwork of tracery above the additional ogees.
Examples of the three types can be found at Barton Turf, Cawston and Acle respectively.
The most famous screen is undoubtedly at Ranworth, but there are others which
run it close, if not for the quality of the painted
figures on the dado, then for the decoration of the whole
piece. The screens at Southwold and Bramfield in Suffolk are notable for
the gesso work which enhances the backgrounds of the
figures; at Barton Turf there is a beautifully
painted representation of the nine orders of the angelic
hierarchy; the design of the screen at Ludham is notable not only for its painted
figures, but also for the inscription naming the donors
and bearing the date of the screen, whilst Cawston, even without its loft, gives perhaps the
best overall picture of what the screen might have looked
like in all its original glory, complete with the painted
background of the Rood.
The pre-eminence of the screen at Ranworth is partly due to its size
and preservation, and partly due to its quality. The best
description was made by W.G. Constable, in his articles
on East Anglian Rood Screen paintings eighty years ago.
The screen has wings extended north and south of the
chancel arch, each forming the background for an altar,
and between them and the main screen, parclose screens
extend forward into the nave, an unusual feature not
found elsewhere in East Anglia. The decoration is very
rich, and though it is possible to trace the work of
several hands on the figure paintings, the unity of both
design and colour suggests the presence of one
The base of the main screen is occupied with the twelve
apostles, each with his emblem and his name inscribed
beneath each figure. The figures on the reredos screens
are bigger, and include, on the south side, the Virgin
and Child. But the finest paintings are those on the
parclose screens, especially the figures of St Michael
and St George. The former, in particular, debonair and
fantastic, as he strides jauntily amid the serpent's
coils, is unique in England. The gaiety of his dancing
draperies and the glitter of his dazzling gems seem
altogether of southern origin, quite different from the
serried ranks of static figures which figure so
prominently in English work of the period. Aymer Vallance
suggests a Catalan influence for both St. Michael and St.
George, citing an altar-piece at Panafel in the province
of Barcelona as their inspiration.
Among other delights on the Ranworth screen are the demi figures
of angels above the main figures on the parclose screens.
Their typically English features, and their feathered
bodies, are regular features of the Norwich School of
glass painting, which flourished in the fifteenth
century. Such angels appeared in the tracery lights of
many windows throughout the county.
The decorative treatment of the whole screen is
especially rich. The backgrounds to the figures are
alternately red and green, and in the reredos panels the
background to the angels is red when the background to
the main figure is green, and vice versa. The flowers
scattered over the backgrounds, and those forming a
running pattern on the white vaulting of the screen and
on the frames of the panels, are in some cases faithful
representations of local flowers. There is, however, no
evidence of gesso work in relief, as found on some of the
richer screens in Suffolk. Even the east face of the
screen is decorated with flowers, alternately on green
and red backgrounds.
Not far from Ranworth are two other very fine screens, Barton Turf and Ludham. The chancel screen at Barton Turf consists
of twelve painted panels, of which the first and second
on the north side represent St. Apollonia and St. Sitha,
followed by the nine orders of angels and finally St.
Barbara. Iconographically, the screen is remarkable,
consisting of the finest surviving representation of the
heavenly hierarchy in English medieval art. Although
examples in attained glass are still to be found in the
tracery lights of many churches, the only other to
survive on a screen is at Southwold in Suffolk. The armour on
two of the Barton Turf angels is a curious mixture of
early and late forms, and according to Constable, points
to a date of around 1480, though the flamboyance of some
of the other costumes may indicate a slightly later date.
Nonetheless, some more recent scholars, notably Lasko and
Morgan, have given the screen a date some forty years
earlier, basing their opinion on the lightness and
informality of the painting and a similarity to the
former altarpiece at St. Michael-at-Plea, Norwich, now in
the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral.
In view of their rarity, it may be useful to enumerate
Potestates, armed, with a devil in a chain, and scourge.
Vertutes, four-winged, with cap, sceptre, feathered body
Dominaciones, four-winged, with triple crown and
Seraphyn, six-winged, feathered body, girdle of fire,
Cherubin, six wings, full of eyes, feathered body, linen
girdle, hands outspread.
Principatus, four-winged, girdle with bells; holds a
glass vial and a palm.
Troni, six-winged, long-sleeved robe; holds a church and
pair of scales.
Archangeli, two-winged in plate armour; stands in a
citadel and holds mace and sword.
Angeli, in alb, with alms box at the girdle; holds a
spear. Two naked souls on a rock, praying praying.
The predominant colours are red and green, with haloes,
feathers and some details on the robes being in gold. The
quality of the drawing equals, if not surpasses, that at
Ranworth (St George and St. Michael excepted), the
figures being varied in attitude and action, and a
consistent attempt seems to have been made to give them
solidarity. In particular the figure of St. Sitha, clad
in the costume of the day and carrying the keys and purse
of a housewife, is particularly beautiful painting. The
panels representing St. Apollonia with her pincers and
tooth and St. Barbara with her castle are equally fine.
The panels on the main screen are far superior to those
which decorate the screen across the south aisle, one of
which represents Henry VI, with orb and sceptre. These
panels seem to have been cut down, and look stiff and
formal, arranged frontally. It has been suggested that
they might have come from one which was displaced by the
present fine screen in the nave, though the recent trend
towards an early date for the latter would discount this
Though the painted figures may be less good, the screen
at nearby Ludham is in many ways even finer.
It certainly gives a fine impression of the medieval
set-up. Above the screen is a painting of the
Crucifixion. The boards on which it is painted were found
in the rood-loft staircase, and now fill the chancel
arch. It is not easy to read the figures apart from those
of Christ, the Virgin and John, but two seraphs seem to
be at the sides, and there are others, thought to be
Longinius, the centurion and Mary Magdelene. On the other
face of the boards (which were turned round for the
purpose) are a Protestant substitute in the form of the
Royal Arms of Elizabeth.
The screen itself is finely proportioned, consisting of
one light divisions with ogee arches within the pointed
arches. An inscription carved along the sill reads: Pray
for the sowle of John Salmon and Cecily his wyf that gave
forten pounde and for alle other benefactors. made in the
year of the lord god MCCCCLXXXXIII. (1493). The twelve
saints have their names inscribed, and include the East
Anglian saint, St Wulstan, crowned, and holding a sceptre
and a scythe. He also occurs on screens at Barnham Broom,
Burlingham St. Andrew and Sparham. As in the side screens
at Ranworth, the backgrounds are divided horizontally by
a band behind the figures' heads, and a floor is provided
on which each figure stands. A further point of richness
on the Ludham screen is the elaborate carving in the
spandrils and at the base.
The two most impressive screens that remain to be
discussed in detail are situated away from Broadland in
the agricultural heart of central Norfolk - at Cawston and Attleborough. The great church of St.
Agnes at Cawston is one of the county's most splendid in
every respect. Six-winged angels stand on the
hammer-beams of the roof, which also has a cornice of
cherubins, much original seating remains, backless in the
aisles, and a fine octagonal font is raised on a step
decorated with quatrefoils.
Above the chancel arch, similar to Ludham, are the
painted remains of the background to the Rood. The
surface is red, with traces of leafage, surrounding a
large white silhouette of the Cross. On either side there
are similar silhouettes of pinnacled canopies which
surmounted the head of each of the accompanying statues
of Mary and John respectively.
The screen is tall and retains its doors, and there are a
total of twenty painted figures on the dado, emanating
from two very different workshops. Beginning on the north
side there are St. Agnes and St. Helena, followed by six
of the Apostles, whilst the doors, as so often in
Norfolk, portray the four Doctors of the Church: Jerome,
Ambrose, Gregory and Augustine. To the south are six more
Apostles and Sir John Schorn. The last named was rector
of North Marston, in Buckinghamshire c. 1290, and
acquired a great reputation as a miracle-worker, on one
occasion conjuring the devil from a boot, as shown here.
His well at Marston was noted as a cure for gout, and the
devil escaping from the boot is probably emblematic of
pain being driven from the foot. He also appears on the
screens at Gateley and Suffield.
Constable maintains that he first fourteen panels derive
from one workshop and the remaining six from another. The
former are painted direct onto the panel, and are crudely
drawn, the mantles falling in elaborate and artificial
folds over the rich brocade robes, and the heads, hands
and feet drawn with hard outlines, the beards and hair
arranged in dark, wiry locks. Pevsners revising
editor, Bill Wilson, finds that these may be the work of
two hands, however. The remaining figures are altogether
superior, painted on parchment and stuck on to the
boards. There is a marked variety in pose, suggesting
individual characterisation. St Matthew holding his
spectacles to his eyes in a most realistic manner, whilst
the draperies, in contrast to the first group, fall
simply and naturally, conveying a distinct impression of
reality rather than formality.
Parish records, unearthed by the indefatigable Simon
Cotton, show that the paintings were completed between
1490 and 1510. The eight panels to the north were paid
for by William Atereth and his wife, and in 1504 there
was a bequest by Richard Browne to paint a pane in the
rood loft. Some of the cartoons for the apostles at
Cawston were used on the screens at Marsham and Worstead (the latter commissioned in
1512), and the gesso patterns on the framework of the
screen are identical with some at Marsham and Aylsham.
In many ways the screen at the former collegiate church
of Attleborough is the most remarkable of all, for it
combines most of the features present in those already
mentioned, even though the painted figures lack the
quality of the others. The former central tower now
stands at the east end of the church, the collegiate
choir having been destroyed, and the screen spans the
full 52ft width of the nave and aisles. The ribbed west
coving remains complete, together with the loft parapet.
The doorway has a cusped ogee arch, whilst the other bays
have single lights and no tracery, just the fine cusping
at the top. In four bays either side of the chancel arch
the whole opening is blocked by a panel with a large
painted figure, similar to the arrangement at Ranworth,
doubtless forming the background to a pair of nave
altars. The coving retains paintings of the arms of each
of the twenty-four old English sees, painted early in the
17th century. The large paintings forming the retables
have below them inscriptions commemorating the donors,
Richard Hart and his wife, Margaret.
Above the screen are the remains of a large painted rood,
with a large cross in the centre. The upper row of
figures has Moses on the right and David on the left, and
the angels at the ends hold instruments of Christ's
Passion. The whole is surmounted by an Annunciation, a
subject quite unusual in this position.
It is now necessary to discuss the two most interesting
screens in Suffolk, Southwold and Bramfield, the first a splendid town
church and the second a remote rural place not far away,
with a detached round tower. Both screens are possibly
richer in decoration of any of those previously
The screen at Southwold is more impressive, spanning the
whole width of the church. The dado is painted with no
less than thirty-six figures, whilst the upper part has
tall arcading without any tracery but with prettily
cusped and subcusped arches, with the ribbed coving to
the east preserved. The painted panels fall into three
sections, of very differing quality. The section facing
the north aisle is the finest so far as figure painting
is concerned, and shows the nine orders of angels
together with heraldic material. According to Aymer
Valence, and repeated by some later writers, the figures
bear a resemblance to those at Barton Turf, but this
seems entirely superficial, and they lack the sensitivity
and luminosity of the latter.
The central section depicts the twelve apostles, and
similarities have been noticed with both the Cawston and
Ranworth paintings in the soft folds of the mantles and
the brocade patterns of the under-garments. What is
unparalleled is the splendour of the patterned gesso
relief forming the background. The section across the
south aisle shows eleven prophets, more linear in their
treatment and stiffly posed within their narrow panels.
The faces of all the figures were repainted by G.
Richmond, R.A. in 1874.
What is possibly the most striking feature of the
Southwold screen is the rich and varied gesso patterns
used freely on the pilasters and the carved canopies over
the figures, as well as on the backgrounds as already
noted. On the spandrels there is also wavy lane
decoration and the naturalistic floral patterns found at
Ranworth. The sections in the aisles are less elaborate.
The screen at Bramfield is equally rich, but on a much
smaller scale with just six one-light divisions, yet
retaining its vaulted coving to the east and west. The
central Tudor arch is surmounted by two ogee arches, each
supporting perpendicular tracery in the same way as the
one-light divisions. The vaulting is richly decorated
with white, red, blue and gold, incorporating the
familiar naturalistic foliate patterns. Just five heavily
repainted figures remain on the lower part of the screen.
I have suggested that a great deal of screenwork remains,
often cut down and removed from its original position, or
sometimes just a panel or two placed against a wall. The
serried ranks of saints portrayed do not differ greatly
in colour or pose, and some have been identified as being
by the same hand, even though they might be reversed in
the way that cartoons for stained glass often were.
Yet among these saints some are of particular interest,
as on the screen at North Burlingham, which, dating from
1528, is the latest known of any Norfolk screen. The dado
has twelve panels, two of which are blank, but among the
remaining figures are St. Withburga, St Wulstan and St.
Etheldreda, all of whom are specially connected with East
Anglia. St. Wulstan, patron saint of agricultural
labourers, was born at Bawburgh, near Norwich, and has
been mentioned earlier. Etheldreda was the daughter of
Anna, King of East Anglia who left her husband , took a
vow of perpetual virginity, and founded a convent at Ely,
of which she became abbess. Her sister, Withburga, became
abbess of a convent at East Dereham, which is shown in
the North Burlingham panel, inscribed Ecclesia de Est
Dereham. Both sisters also appear on the screen at
Barnham Broom. Another unusual feature of the Burlingham
screen is that all the figures are placed on pedestals,
suggesting that they might be derived from sculpture.
Other saints specially connected with East Anglia are
represented from time to time, principally, of course St.
Edmund, who also appears in stained glass, in wall
paintings and in wood on bench-ends and misericords.
Others include Felix, Anna, already mentioned, Ethelbert
(Burnham Norton), and St. William of Norwich, a boy who
was said to have been murdered, scourged and crowned with
thorns by the Jews in Norwich on 24 March 1144. A scene
at Loddon vividly depicts his
Crucifixion. Other saints popularly depicted at the end
of the Mediaeval period are mainly foreign, and in East
Anglia mainly Flemish in origin, suggesting the ever
closer links between the two parts; St. Juliana at Hempstead is but one example.
The screen at Hempstead is now but a sad remnant of
what must once have been an imposing structure. The
remaining painted figures are of high quality both from
the point of view of artistic achievement and content, as
there are representations of saints who rarely appear
elsewhere. As well as St. Juliana, with the devil
haltered on a rope, we find St. Helen (sadly damaged like
the next panel, which represents either St. Agnes or St.
Agatha,) St. Theobald, St. Denis, holding a tonsured
head, St. John of Bridlington, holding a fish and St.
Giles, with a hind at his feet. On the south side are
striking figures of St. George, St. Erasmus, with his
entrails wound round a capstan, St. Stephen, with stones
in his hand and St. Lawrence with his grid, both wearing
elegant blue garments with high collars. Then come St.
Blaise, St. Francis, bearing the stigmata, and part of
St. Leonard. The final panel, now blank, contained the
rare figure of St. Eligius, patron saint of farriers,
with a hammer and horses leg, but was stolen from
the church in 1982. His only other representation in on
the nearby screen at Potter Heigham. There remains no
documentary evidence of the donors of this screen, so any
reason for the choice of these particular saints would be
mere speculation. One reason for their exceptionally fine
quality is that the screen is of comparatively early
date. It must date from between 1380 and 1420, and the
painting compares favourably with manuscripts of that
period. There are equally fine paintings, possibly of a
slightly earlier date, at Edingthorpe
The screen at Loddon, though the entire upper
section is missing, is highly unusual in that for the
most part it shows scenes and not individual figures.
Each bay is treated as a single unit, and the main scenes
show the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation in
the Temple and the Adoration of the Magi, preceded to the
north by the Martyrdom of St. William of Norwich
mentioned above. He is bound saltire-wise to stakes, and
the Jews are wounding his side and collecting the blood
in a basin. All the figures are now drawn with firm black
outlines on a cream ground, the robes being mainly red
and green with gold details, and a late date, perhaps as
late as 1520, is usually suggested for them.
Pictorial perspective is also suggested on a unique
panel, or rather two panels, at Fritton, which contain
portraits of the donor with his wife and children. A
damaged inscription in Latin asks for prayers for the
soul of the donor, John Bacon and his wife, but the
paintings can hardly be said to be portraits proper. The
sizes of the figures vary according to their nearness to
the spectator, so creating a sense of space within the
panel. References in church records to the work suggest a
date between 1510 and 1520, though nothing is known of
the family. The remaining figures are crudely painted,
yet the upper section of each panel, above the
inscription, is painted with the rare and expensive blue
and covered with gold stars, suggesting that this screen
was originally of splendid appearance.
Simon Cotton has shown that is rare to be able to assign
the donation of a complete screen to one person or family
in a way that we can at Ludham. At Worstead the screen was executed and
finished in 1512 at the cost of John Alblastyr and his
wife Benedicta, whilst the screen at Trunch has a Latin
inscription recording that the screen was made in 1502.
As outlined earlier, the Cawston screen had at least three separate donors.
There was formerly an inscription, beginning below the
figure of St. Agnes, saying that eight panels on the
north side were paid for by William Atereth and his wife:
Pray for the sowlis of Willia Athereth and Alice his wyff
the weche dede iiiv panys peynte be the Executors
lyff." Parish records refer to a bequest in 1504 by
Richard Browne to paint a pane in the rood loft. Yet as
early as 1460 "John Barker gave 10 marks towards the
building of the Rood Loft, commonly called the
candle-beam." Which still leaves several of the
existing screen panels unaccounted for.
Similar confusion exists about the donors of the somewhat
primitive screen at Westhall, in Suffolk. We find the
same decoration with wavy bands of colour and
naturalistic foliage as at Ranworth, but here all similarities
end, for the figures are clumsily painted and differ
greatly in style and size. In some figures there is an
attempt at modelling, whilst in others the treatment is
boldly linear and some hands are so large, they seem to
be wearing goalkeepers gloves! A possible reason is
that each panel might have been the gift of a different
donor, each employing a different painter, who did his
work independently of the others, using cartoons obtained
from a variety of sources. Where the Westhall screen is
unique is the representation the Transfiguration.
Figures of Saints or Prophets form the most usual
decoration for the lower parts of East Anglian screens,
particularly in Norfolk, though some make do with
conventional or abstract ornaments or simple diaper
patterns. The latter occur on screens at Deopham, Great
Massingham and Saxthorpe in Norfolk, for example, whilst
the fine screen at Acle the ornamental motifs
include IHS and E with crossed arrows, depicting St.
Edmund. This screen is tall and exceptionally good, the
two-light divisions having ogee heads. The tracery is in
two tiers, that is to say there is a transom with tracery
below in addition to the ogee arches above with thin
tracery. At Tivetshall diaper patterns alternate with
The screen at Binham Priory, formerly decorated with
painted figures, was painted over in white after the
Reformation and then covered with black-letter texts from
Cranmer's Bible of 1539. Several details of the original
beautifully painted figures are now showing through. The
heads of St. Michael and of Christ as the Man of Sorrows
are particularly striking.
There was no mystical significance in screens in
churches; they were primarily utilitarian, their purpose
being to guard or fence off an altar. Among screens the
rood screen is, of course, the most important, because,
standing as it did at the entrance to the chancel, its
purpose was to protect the principal or high altar.
Subordinate altars, like those described at Ranworth, or
those in side chapels, were protected by parclose
screens. Some of these screens, to judge by what remains
today, were of equal splendour to those at the entrance
to the chancel.
Just three may be mentioned in some detail, the first
being East Harling, in Norfolk. As if the rood
screen here, were not enough (it has carved quatrefoils,
mostly heraldic, but one with a crucifixion with Mary and
John, the cross growing out of the reclining Jesse), the
screen to the south chapel has three-light divisions
complete with its ribbed coving, whilst at right angles
to this screen is another, earlier one with shafts
instead of mullions. All these are splendidly coloured.
The little known church of Beeston-next-Mileham also has the remains of a
fine rood screen, complete with twelve defaced figures,
but cruelly missing the top - it finishes crudely at the
joints which held the wooden vaulting supporting the
loft. The parclose screens enclosing the chapels of Our
Lady and St. John are particularly fine. That on the
south side dates from the end of the fourteenth century,
and the later one in the north aisle is of superb
quality, with wide, thickly crocketed ogee arches and
close tracery. The untreated oak has a beautiful silvery
hue, whilst there are traces of colour on the dado.
The parclose screens of the south and north chapels at Dennington in Suffolk are two
prodigious pieces, miraculously well preserved. They are
like rood screens of the usual type with one-light
divisions, crocketed ogee arches and panel; tracery above
with a top cresting. Above that the whole loft is
preserved with daintily traceried openwork balustrading
to the outside as well as the inside. The colour has
doubtless been discretely renewed in recent times.
The parclose screens at Dennington give us as good an
idea as possible of how a mediaeval rood screen looked
when complete. To see the rood group in position above
the screen we have to go to Eye, also in Suffolk, where,
thanks to sensitive additions by Sir Ninian Comper in
1925, we can see what our forbears intended. The screen
up to the rood loft is original work of 1480. There is a
rich cupsed and subcupsed entrance arch and a carved
foliage trail, gilded on a rich blue background, on the
rail above the dado, which contains fourteen painted
figures. The ribbed coving is supported in the front by
traceried pendant arches, and above this is an upper tier
of ribbed coving, crested at the top, with an inscription
"Pray for John Gold" The loft and the figures
are Comper's work, and help conjure up a splendid picture
of mediaeval imagery and colour.
Tom Muckley 1995, revised 2005
W.G Constable. Some East Anglian Rood Screen Paintings.
The Connoisseur, 1929
Aymer Valence. English Church Screens, 1936
H. Munro Cautley. Norfolk Churches, 1949
W.W. Williamson. Norfolk Archaeology, 1955-6
N. Pevsner. The Buildings of England: Norfolk (2 vols.)
1962 rev. Bill Wilson 1999
P. Lasko and N.J. Morgan. Medieval Art in East Anglia
Simon Cotton. Mediaeval Roodscreens in Norfolk. Norfolk
Pauline Plummer, Revd. Canon Jeremy Haselock and Chris
Harrison (personal communications)
Thanks to Simon Knott for his inspiration and enthusiasm.