Pattern-makers

On a recent New Year’s trip to Ely Cathedral I came again across the wonderful thirteenth/ fourteenth century wall paintings in St Edmund’s Chapel. I had seen them many years ago, doing research for a commission for a set of hand-woven vestments for the Cathedral… but I had forgotten quite how wonderful they are.

Saint Edmund, also known as Edmund the Martyr, was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death in 869. An account in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells of his death at the hands of the Vikings and the ‘Great Heathen Army’. In the early tenth century his body was moved to Beodricesworth - now the market town of Bury St Edmunds.

Pictured above, in the top of the arch on one of the chapel side-walls is the scene from Saint Edmund’s martyrdom - he stands by a tree in the centre as arrows are fired at him from all sides. Below this scene is a large panel of stripes - rusty red on a pale ground. The stripes have a feathered edge, bringing a lively dynamic quality to the pattern.

Pictured above, and facing the stripes, the other side wall of the chapel is painted with a startlingly modern pattern made up of repeated rings and circles of different sizes, arranged in a half-drop design. The circles are bordered on all four sides with wide bars of red. It is a wonderfully playful and confident piece of pattern-making, and feels at once ancient and very contemporary.

The paintings were made to mimic textile wall hangings - their decorative nature, large scale and confident execution suggest to me that they were the work of an experienced pattern-maker.

Readers of this journal will know that I have a real fondness for English Medieval wall paintings, and in particular for the playful geometric patterns which often appear in the margins - running around an arch, or bending playfully over architectural details. In the two images on the left and centre-left below you see the wonderful pattern-making in St Mary’s Kempley. Centre right is Capel Church in Kent - you can just make out a lovely trailing vine pattern in the boarder. And on the far right is a shallow niche in St Mary’s Brook. Kent, with a pattern which mimics morter lines, interrupted with little floral details.

On the walls of St Edmund’s Chapel however, patterns take centre-stage with a joyful exuberance that I hope to bring to my newest warp…