This is the chancel of Widford church, with remnants of early wall paintings on each side. The chancel was over an original Roman mosaic from a previous villa on the site. It has recently had to be covered up, sadly. However the church is still beautiful, inside and outside, with that unique pastoral tranquility lacking in cities.
	Below is an early wall painting on the north wall of the chancel. The painting depicts a common medieval artistic theme: The Three Living And The Three Dead.This usually shows three finely dressed earthly kings and three ghoulish skeletons of former kings, saying 'We were once like you, you will be like us'. A moral reminder of the vanity of worldly pride and wealth, and the need to remember that we are all mortal. Morbid but maybe salutary. This painting is estimated to date from 1350, when the Black Death hadn't yet run its course. You wonder what tragedies this church witnessed in those days.
			Below is an admittedly rather fuzzy picture of yours truly - John of Widnes-shire, ecclesiologist extraordinaire. I am in the middle of the field outside St. Oswalds's Widford - the church that is the subject of this page, and am standing on the path to Swinbrook, another little gem - half a mile down to the path, and also on one my pages). Note how small and inaccessible St Oswald's is - cars can't get to it (thank God). I first came here in January 2002 and it was a stormy windswept day - the romance of sitting in the church hearing the wind howl around me was unforgettable. Our churches, history and heritage are some of the reasons I stay put in England, for its myriad faults..
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