Why are we raising funds for wall paintings in Putford Church?

If you visit St Stephen’s Church in Putford, please take a minute to look at the wall opposite the door as you go in. The first thing that you will notice is that the  interior generally needs re-decoration. Look more closely at the wall opposite you, the north wall. You will see that fragments of painted lettering is visible where the plaster has deteriorated.

The church dates back many centuries. There are numerous layers of plaster and white wash on the walls. As the ever present damp in the North Devon air has permeated the walls from the outside in, some of these layers have started to lift and to fall away. The lettering below has appeared in patches. Until we get experts to examine the lettering properly, it is impossible to say from when it dates. However, some guesses can be speculated upon.

It would seem to be The Ten Commandments. This is not an unusual text to be found on old church walls. Some speculation can be made about the language used, for example “ye”. It is possible that the writing could date back as far as Tudor times. Again, nothing is definite until proper examination is made.

Until we look further, we don’t know how much of the writing is still intact. It could simply be fragments.

The church is a Grade I Listed building. This means that even if we wished to, we cannot simply paint over the walls and the writing.

We need to eradicate as much of the damp in the walls as we can, and do our best to halt it coming in further. Once that has been stabilized, we need to have an expert conservator explore beneath the layers and see how much of the writing remains. Once the position is clear then we will have decisions to make based on the advice of the conservators and our conservation surveyor.

There are a number of possibilities. If the fragments are capable of being stabilized it may be possible to have a frame or “window” in the wall to reveal the paintings beneath the surface and to display them. If they are not, then it may be a question of re-decorating the wall in the most appropriate manner, which is likely to be lime washing rather than painting in modern paint.

In either event, we would want to re-decorate as much of the walls as we can in conservation limewash, as they currently appear rather dilapidated.

Where ancient buildings are concerned, it is always an adventure once you start a project such as this. It is pretty much impossible to say what will be revealed and the extent of the work needed.

We have therefore started to raise funds for the work and have so far held three events, a coffee morning in the church last October, a sale of jewellery and accessories last Christmas, and our recent Big Breakfast Event at Bradworthy Memorial Hall. We have also received a number of generous donations from parishioners and former parishioners. To date, we have raised almost one thousand pounds.

This is a large sum of money but a great deal more will be required before we can celebrate having a sympathetically restored church interior which will be a pleasure to be in.

The PCC ( Parochial Church Council ) have been greatly assisted by Myles Thomas and Steve Carter. We hope to be in a position to seek grants from bodies such as Historic England ( formerly known as English Heritage ) and the Historic Churches Trust. When we do apply to them we hope that our fundraising efforts will show that we have put our hearts and our backs into this challenge, and not just expected them to finance the works. We are in this for the long haul.

We plan to hold further events in the coming months and years. Among the ideas are a cream tea in the summer, a walk around the parish, and another coffee morning. When we have future events, we will publicise them here on the website, and we will keep you all informed regularly as to our progress with articles such as this one.

There is much support in the parish for the church. Although congregations are small, as they are in many churches, they are large for the big occasions in the year, Easter, Harvest Festival, Remembrance Day and Christmas. The parish supports the church so that it is there for the big occasions in life, baptisms, weddings and funerals. It is also, of course, the last remaining public building in the parish now that the school and the chapel have closed.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions and indeed donations, please contact the PCC via myself on lesleytaylor@waitrose.com or on 01409 241653!

Lesley Taylor

PCC Secretary and Treasurer