North Wall

 

This wall is pierced by three windows, a small window between the door and the west end, and two larger windows between the door and the east end.  On the upper part of the wall, immediately beneath the frieze, there is a series of subjects representing the history of Saint Margaret. Of the first subject, reading from the west, the head of the Saint and her black tunic are all that remain: of the second, her head only, bending forwards. The third subject is also fragmentary. In it Saint Margaret is shown kneeling in front of a tormentor represented with exaggerated features. In the fourth, the Saint is nude to the waist, her black mantle draped below. She stands with raised hands, in the position of an Orante. Her hair is tied to a horizontal bar and below are two tormentors holding staves under her armpits. In the fifth subject the series terminates with her execution. Her hands are clasped in prayer, her head drawn forward by the executioner clad in a short white tunic and grasping her by the hair as he strikes off her head with a sword. At the west end of this wall there are slight traces of a large figure in the lower tier, traces of colour on the splays of the small window, and between this window and the door, part of another tall figure, evidently Saint James.

Saint James, bearded and with long hair holds a knobbed staff and is wearing a large pilgrim’s hat, the lower part of the figure is destroyed . Further east between the door and the next window is the upper part of a figure of Saint Christopher. The Saint,  wearing a red tunic, white mantle and low hat, faces east carrying a staff in his hand. The Divine Child, on his shoulder, wearing a short tunic, has a cruciform nimbus and turns towards .the saint, his hand raised in blessing. On the right of the figure there is a scroll but no inscription is decipherable upon it.


Above and on the west of the window arch is a bearded man’s head. He faces west and is holding, or pointing to a triptych, the right half of which alone survives. On the right of the central panel of the triptych is painted the Virgin and Child, with tracery above. Whether or not the left half of the panel contained the Magi or an adoring figure is impossible to determine. In the panel on the right is a small figure of the Holy Trinity. On the splays of this window are four figures, two on each side represented within painted niches. The head and some drapery alone remains of one of the figures on the western splay. The other is a bishop in mass vestments and mitre, his hand raised in blessing. On the eastern splay there remains of one figure only a book with fingers holding it, the other figure being that of a bishop blessing, similar to that on the opposite splay.

Between the second and third windows there is a large figure of Saint George. He is represented as a fine knightly figure, clothed in chain mail and a white surcoat charged with a red cross. At his waist he carries a sword and in his left hand a shield, also charged with a red cross. His shoulder pieces are charged in the same manner. In his right hand he carries a lance and in the top left-hand corner of the composition there is a shield bearing the lions passant of England. The name GEOR(G)IUS is inscribed below in Lombardic capitals. Below the shield and a little to the right there are traces of a consecration cross. On the right of the figure of Saint George there is the figure of a woman wearing a wimple, veil and a long red tunic. She holds in her right hand a ball, from which hangs; in a festoon; a long thread the end of which is held in her other hand.

On the western splay of the easternmost window there are two figures. The one on the left is holding a book in one hand, the other hand is raised. The figure is wearing a black hat, but the head is missing making it difficult to determine whether the figure is a man or a woman. The other figure is a woman in a long yellow tunic, wimple and veil, holding a book, and facing the first figure also with a raised hand as if in conversation. Possibly this figure depicts Saint Clare; as the subject of Saint Francis preaching to the birds appears on the other splay. The saint is represented in a brown habit with a thrice knotted girdle, his hand raised in gesticulation to the .birds perched in the branches of a tree. The owl is the most conspicuous of the birds.

On the east of the window, near the east wall there is a figure of Saint Lawrence, vested in black dalmatic adorned with wide white bands, amice and alb. Facing the west, he holds a grid in one hand and raises the other.