Thirteenth-century wall paintings in the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Halling
On either side of the chancel arch of the ancient church of St. John the Baptist in Halling village can be found a well-preserved medieval ‘Passion Cycle’ painting.
Passion cycles are depictions of the events of the final days of the life of Christ, from his entry in Jerusalem to his final crucifixion and resurrection[fn1]. Those of St. John’s (at least in terms of clarity and completeness) can be seen to be among the finest examples of Passion paintings to be found anywhere in English parish churches today[fn2].
The paintings at St. John’s have recently undergone some painstaking restoration work by Arte Conservation. The firm conducted a survey of the mural in 2019 at the behest of St. John’s Parochial Parish Council, who were concerned about a deterioration of the painting and its underlying plaster, partly caused by a roof leak (that in itself was caused by an earlier lead theft from the roof) and also by years of general dust accumulation. The report’s recommendations[fn3] were finally implemented in the spring of this year, funded largely by a substantial bequest. The result is a great improvement in the visual clarity and contrast of the mural and a degree of assurance that it will remain in good condition for the foreseeable future.
A church has stood at Halling since Saxon times and is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is thought that the stone church of St John’s was built soon afterwards by the Normans, though little of its original fabric survives today.[fn4] Remains of one of the medieval palaces of the Bishop of Rochester lie to the east of the church,[fn5] and Halling was once an important centre of diocesan activity.
The paintings at St. John’s are thought to have been made in around 1250[fn6], possibly by monks from the nearby Benedictine priory of St. Andrews in Rochester. This was a time when the chancels of many English churches underwent extension to accommodate stone altars, with their arches widened and rood screens and lofts installed[fn7]. At St. John’s, the chancel arch painting may have preceded such work as it appears that the inner edge of the mural has been lost due to just such a widening of the arch.
The murals are painted predominantly in red and yellow ochre, executed a secco[fn8],[fn9] onto an off-white limewash background, with scenes arranged in tiers (see Fig. 2).
[fg]jpg|Fig. 1 – Medieval wall paintings of St John the Baptist, Halling.|Image[/fg]
INTERPRETATION OF THE SCENES
[fg]jpg|Fig. 2 – Annotated sections of the St John’s mural.|Image[/fg]
Interpretations of the scenes depicted in the mural are given below:
1. This incomplete fragment may show part of what was once a larger depiction of the Crucifixion. On the right of the section, the painting appears to show a head and an arm on a cross. The crucifixion scene would have been the centrepiece of the whole mural. Given the location of this figure away from the main centre of the arch, this fragment may be what is left of a representation of Dismas, one of the two thieves who were crucified along with Jesus. (Dismas was ‘the Good Thief’, who repented of his crimes on the cross and asked Jesus to remember him. He is traditionally represented as being crucified to the right of Jesus at the Crucifixion). The arm is hooked over the crossbar and fastened behind, a depiction often used in passion paintings to represent the crucified thieves.
On the left of this section is a haloed figure holding what appears to be a branch. This may be a depiction of Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree, an event described in the Gospels according to Matthew (21:18–22) and Mark (11:12–14).
2. This section shows a clear representation of the Crowning with Thorns as described in the Gospels according to Matthew (27:29), Mark (15:17), and John (19:2). These describe how Roman soldiers (shown here as wearing round helmets) mockingly push a woven crown of thorns onto the head of Jesus before his crucifixion, in an attempt to humiliate “The King of the Jews”. The features of his Roman tormentors are exaggerated, a common device in passion paintings. In the depiction here, Jesus appears to be blindfolded (Luke 22:64). The Gospels tell of Jesus being forced to wear a scarlet or purple robe and traces of this colour still appear to persist in the painting.
3. This portion of the painting is rather indistinct but appears to show two figures (whose feet can be seen clearly at the bottom of the section) embracing each other. Three helmeted Roman soldiers (see 2, again with exaggerated facial features) are shown watching the seemingly chaotic scene. A face in profile can be seen kissing the central haloed figure and this therefore is most likely a depiction of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane. In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 26:47–50, Mark 14:43–46 and Luke 22:47–48) Judas Iscariot identifies and betrays Jesus to the chief priests and temple guards with a kiss. The kiss served as a pre-arranged signal, indicating to the authorities which man to arrest.
4. This area shows part of a haloed figure pointing towards another whose arms are outstretched, seemingly in protest. Much of the right-hand side has been lost and the left is indistinct, but this scene may illustrate Jesus foretelling Peter’s denial of Him, as told in all four Gospels (Matthew 26:33–35, Mark 14:29–31, Luke 22:33–34 and John 13:36–38).
5. This part of the mural is clearly a depiction of the Gospel of John 13:14–17, which describes how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to demonstrate the virtue of humility and a willingness to serve others, even in seemingly insignificant ways. The water bowl can clearly be seen in the centre left of the scene, with the figure of Christ bending over it. Three of the Apostles are shown to the right: presumably others were once depicted in the missing portion to the right.
6. Much of the lower portion of this section has been lost to what appears to be a widening of the chancel arch but the top of a cross can be seen, to the lower right of which is a dark figure carrying what appears to be a spear. This appears to be a depiction of the Road to Calvary, where Jesus is led away for crucifixion as described in the Gospels of Matthew 27:31–33, Mark 15:20–22, Luke 23:26–32 and John 19:16–18.
7. This section of the mural is an illustration of The Last Supper. Christ and His disciples are shown behind a long table, while Judas is shown on the other side opposite Jesus – a common device in early Passion paintings. In the St. John’s painting, a figure is clearly shown giving the Judas-figure something to eat or drink. This appears to be a depiction of the scene described in the Gospel according to John 13:26–27, where Jesus gives Judas a sop of bread dipped in wine, thus identifying him as his betrayer. Only eight of the Apostles are featured on the same side of the table as Jesus. All (bar one) appear to be clean-shaven and tonsured – a reflection of the probable appearance of the Benedictine monks who painted the scene. In reality, Jesus and His Apostles would most likely have been bearded.
However, an extraordinary amount of detail has survived on the painting of the face of the Apostle to the left (right as we view it) of the central figure of Jesus. Traditionally, Judas was seated in this position and the figure depicted here is tonsured, but certainly looks to be a swarthy, unshaven character with a furtive expression on his face! Passion paintings do not always follow a logical lay-out and it may be that the central scene of Jesus ‘giving the sop’ to Judas (who, in this scene, is not tonsured) is just an overlay or separate scene to the wider depiction of the Last Supper. Below and to the right of the main section are what may be a row of four faces, though their features cannot readily be discerned. These may be those of the other apostles – Judas thus appears twice in the scene.
Fig 1 shows another contemporary 13th century rectangular wall decoration below the main chancel arch paintings to the left (north) of the arch, a foliate design that possibly once part of a repeating pattern of masonry decoration that once covered the lower areas of the arch.
Up until around 1530, the interiors of most English parish churches possessed a colourful assembly of rood screens and associated rood lofts, the latter bearing painted rood statues of the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist and other locally celebrated saints, all illuminated by the light of votive candles[fn10].
Colourful wall paintings, depicting the lives of saints, morality tales (such as the Seven Deadly Sins), ‘Doom’ paintings giving warning of judgement in the afterlife, or (as at St. John’s) ‘Passion paintings’ were also an integral part of this “people’s theatre” of medieval church life.
During the reign of Edward VI, the Tudor Reformation saw such decoration derided as ‘popish’ and ‘superstitious’. Rood screens and lofts were ripped out, their statues smashed and church wall paintings covered over with thick layers of whitewash or plaster[fn11],[fn12]. As a result of such iconoclasm, very few examples of medieval church wall paintings can be found today. Of around ten thousand medieval churches across England, fewer than a thousand possess paintings beyond mere fragments[fn13].
Across Kent, a few notable examples of significant remnants of church wall paintings have been recorded[fn14]. In the cases of those at St. Thomas á Becket of Capel, St. Mary of Charity of Faversham and particularly St Mary’s of Brook, these include elements of Passion cycle paintings. Yet curiously, the paintings of St. John’s are seldom featured in the standard works on medieval church paintings[fn15].
Like many medieval church wall paintings, it was thought that those of St. John’s were uncovered during its mid-nineteenth century refurbishment, part of a great programme sometimes known as the ‘Victorian Restoration’[fn16]. This was a period between 1840–1890 when all of the 130 churches in the Rochester diocese underwent significant repair or modification[fn17] – and not always to the benefit of those historic buildings or the artefacts therein. St. John’s itself underwent significant modification in the late 1880s under the direction of the noted Maidstone architect Hubert Bensted, who designed the extensions to the north and south of the nave.
None of the local parish records, church magazines or newspapers of the time appear to make any reference to the discovery of the wall paintings at St. John’s, however. The lack of such reports, along with the absence of any reference to the paintings in contemporary journals or literature, perhaps suggests that they may well have been discovered later – or that such paintings were simply not regarded as particularly important by their custodians of the time. An unknown writer observing the restoration work of 1887 said of the nave that “the walls were found to be covered by old surface paintings”[fn18]. No records, drawings or photographs of them appear to have been made prior to the demolition of said walls.
[fg]jpg|Fig. 3 – Images of Judas: next to Christ at the Last Supper (left), the kiss of betrayal (centre), and receiving the ‘sop’ (right).|Image[/fg]
It has been suggested that the paintings we see today above the chancel arch may have been uncovered in the 1940s by Mrs. Eve Baker[fn19], (a pioneer of modern techniques of church wall art restoration) who undertook some degree of work to stabilise and restore them, both at the time and subsequently in the 1960s. However, a photograph of the church interior featured on the front of a Halling calendar from 1924 clearly shows the paintings, suggesting that they were uncovered well before Mrs. Baker’s activities.
The only reference to wall paintings at St. John’s from around the late 19th century can be found in a book published in 1893 by local antiquarian (and former Chaplain to the Malling Union Workhouse) the Rev. Charles Henry Fielding, entitled Memories of Malling and Its Valley, which had this to say on the matter:
“In Halling church, until a very few years ago, existed the uncouth painting over the chancel arch of which we give a print; it has been variously deciphered, as the tale of an unfaithful wife and the emblematic representation of the seven deadly sins…”
The “print” referred to is shown in Figure 4 below:
Above
Fig 4 – The ‘missing’ mural of St. John’s
All images courtesy of Keith Slucock, and with permissions obtained, 2025.
The “H. Raven, Esq.” referred to above is Mr. Henry James Raven, once a stalwart member of the congregation at St. John’s and the general manager of the erstwhile Lees cement works that used to occupy the land just to the north of where the Halling side of Peter’s bridge is today. The carved cross above the chancel screen of St. John’s was dedicated to his memory in 1909.
Today, the chancel wall above the Passion mural is blank and no traces of any further wall paintings have been found. One such as depicted in Mr. Raven’s drawing would not have been out of place in a medieval church, however: various medieval wall paintings depicting The Seven Deadly Sins can be found around the country (e.g. at St. George’s, Trotton, West Sussex, and at St. Peter and St. Paul, Hoxne, Suffolk). The Seven Deadly Sins are traditionally held to be Pride, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony and Sloth. Certainly, some of the figures shown in Mr. Raven’s drawing could easily be interpreted as representing these sins – a couple embracing (Lust), a figure eating (Gluttony) and what appears to be a figure lying in a bed (Sloth). So why can this mural no longer be seen at St. John’s? The description of it given by the Rev. Fielding is revealing – he called it “uncouth”. Was it deemed to be too louche or sordid for Victorian sensibilities and therefore unsuitable for a staid Christian church? Did our local Victorian worthies order its erasure as a result of such prudery? There is no clear reason for its absence today. We are fortunate that the remaining paintings have survived in such good condition.
The church of St. John the Baptist is regrettably kept locked after a spate of vandalism. However, regular Sunday services are held and details of these can be found on the “A Church Near You” website:
www.achurchnearyou.com/church/9935
for any visitor wishing to see these remarkable paintings for themselves. The nameless artists who painted the murals of St. John’s would doubtless have been gratified to have known that their works would still be admired and cherished after 900 years.
Keith Slucock has a parochial interest in local churches and is a member of the church bell-ringing team that serves the combined benefice of Cuxton and Halling. He also serves on the committee of the Halling Historical Society.
[fg]jpg|Fig. 4 – The ‘missing’ mural of St John’s.|Image[/fg]
[fn]1|p40–43, Medieval Wall Paintings by Roger Rosewall, (Boydell press, 2008, ISBN 9781843834847).[/fn]
[fn]2|A list containing links to illustrated articles on examples of Passion cycle paintings is given in Medieval Wall Painting In The English Parish Church (a website created by Anne Marshall, https://reeddesign.co.uk/paintedchurch/passion-cycle.htm, accessed November 2025). St. John’s of Halling is not included.[/fn]
[fn]3|Condition Assessment and Proposals for the Conservation of the 13th century wall paintings – The Church of St. John the Baptist, Halling, Kent, report by Arte Conservation 29 May 2018.[/fn]
[fn]4|p10, Across The Low Meadow – A History of Halling in Kent by E. S. Gowers & D. Church (1979)[/fn]
[fn]5|13 Chapter 3, Across The Low Meadow – A History of Halling in Kent by E. S. Gowers & D. Church (1979)[/fn]
[fn]6|D. Park, – unpublished notes on the wall paintings at Halling church courtesy of the Courtauld Institute of Art, cited in ref. 8.[/fn]
[fn]7|p26, A Little History of the English Country Church by Roy Strong, (Jonathan Cape, 2007, ISBN 9780220752220)[/fn]
[fn]8|The Church of St. John the Baptist, Halling, Kent: Report on the Cleaning and Conservation of the 13th Century Wall Paintings by Arte Conservation, 24 June 2025 (addressed to the churchwardens of St. John’s who commissioned the conservation work).[/fn]
[fn]9|“a secco”: a system of painting onto a dry lime wash or lime plaster surface with pigments that have been mixed with an additional binding medium such as gum, casein, etc. Although a wall painting may sometimes be called a fresco, this is strictly a specific technique where the painting is executed onto a fresh lime plaster and becomes bound in as the plaster dries out.[/fn]
[fn]10|Chapter 2, A Little History of the English Country Church by Roy Strong, (Jonathan Cape, 2007, ISBN 9780220752220)[/fn]
[fn]11|Chapter 4, A People’s Church – A History of the Church of England by Jeremy Morris (Profile books, 2022, ISBN 9781781252505)[/fn]
[fn]12|Chapter 12, A History of the Church in England by J. R. H. Moorman (3rd edition, Moorhouse, 1980, ISBN 0-8192-1406-X)[/fn]
[fn]13|p6, Medieval Wall Paintings by Roger Rosewall, (Boydell press, 2008, ISBN 9781843834847).[/fn]
[fn]14|e.g. Mural Painting at Cliffe Church by Rev. E. H. Lee (Arch. Cant. Vol. 11, pp158–159, 1877)
Thirteenth Century Wall Painting at Upchurch by Cumberland H. Woodruff, (Arch Cant. Vol. 25, pp88–96, 1902)
Faversham Church, Kent by Thomas Willmott (Arch. Cant. Vol. 1, pp150–153, 1858)
Frindsbury Church Wall Paintings by Canon Scott Robertson, (Arch. Cant. Vol. 16, pp225–226, 1886)
Medieval Paintings of St. Thomas a Becket Church, Capel (KAS image library, link here)[/fn]
[fn]15|e.g. English Medieval Wall Painting: The 13th Century by E. W. Tristram, London, 1950, accompanied by other volumes covering the 12th Century (London, 1944) and the 14th Century (London, 1954). These otherwise comprehensive works make no mention of the Halling paintings at St. John’s. Neither does his earlier work (English Medieval Wall Painting by E. W. Tristram & T. Borenius, London, 1929).[/fn]
[fn]16|Introduction. The Victorian Church: Architecture and Society, (by C. Brooks and A. Saint, Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-7190-4019-1).[/fn]
[fn]17|p.208 A Little History of the English Country Church by Roy Strong, (Jonathan Cape, 2007, ISBN 9780220752220)[/fn]
[fn]18|p11, Across the Low Meadow – A History of Halling in Kent by E. S. Gowers & D. Church (1979)[/fn]
[fn]19|Rescuing the medieval wall paintings of England: Obituary of Eve Baker (D. Park, 23 August 1990, The Guardian).[/fn]
All images courtesy of Keith Slucock, permissions obtained, 2025.