The church of St Laurence in Reading's town centre is not generally open to the public. No longer in service as a traditional church as such, it is used today as a space for young people to collaborate and meet. Thought to have been established at the same time as Reading Abbey, the church is believed to date from the twelfth century and has seen royalty, town celebrations and the brutal administration of Tudor justice. It even sustained bomb damage in the Second World War, still visible today on the left side of its tower. But back in the medieval and early Tudor periods, before the religious divisions of the 1530s and onwards, St Laurence's church would have looked very different inside. Today's white-washed walls were once brightly coloured, and flanked with statues and images of saints. As worshippers filed into the church their eyes would have flickered over wall paintings intricately-worked to help inspire parishioners' spiritual imaginations.
In 1503-1504 the churchwardens paid out eight shillings and fourpence to a painter called Mylys [Miles] 'for painting of Saint Christopher'. Another payment of sixpence was paid 'for new plastering of the wall where St Christopher is painted'. Another payment in 1521 specified a painting of St Leonard, painted by a painter named John.
A larger work was commissioned in 1526, described as 'the transfiguration over the high altar' and paid for by parishioners. It was decorated with gold, the account paying 'diverse persons towards the gilding and painting of the transfiguration'. Bosses in the ceiling - knots of wood created to hide joins - were also made and covered with gold in 1524. In 1547, after mid-Tudor religious changes and Henry VIII's break with Rome, church accounts show payments to workmen for whitewashing and adding lime to the walls to cover up the medieval and early Tudor paintings. They were replaced with lines from scriptures, which were then whitewashed over in 1556. Finally, the medieval stained glass was removed in 1549, and replaced with clear panes of glass.
The paintings lurked for centuries under whitewashed walls, but in 1848, there was a chance discovery. A wooden screen dating from the early eighteenth century was removed from the east wall of the chancel, and some layers of whitewash carefully removed. Observers noticed five different paintings, all created on top of one another. They recorded them as 'portions of the Creed and Ten Commandments', with a layer of scripture. Some of these phrases of text were decorated with a border of blue paint and finished with leaves and sprigs. Underneath this layer of paint was the remains of a fresco depicting the Annunciation with a full-sized figure believed to have been an angel, likely to have been Archangel Gabriel. It was a stunning work, with the angel's wings painted in red, with rainbow colours and traces of a building in the background. A figure of the Virgin Mary was also seen kneeling, with a pot of white lilies placed next to her. The Victorian spectators also noted traces of red and blue with gilded decorations on the internal columns of the church's windows. The Transfiguration referred to in the churchwardens' accounts in the early 1500s was also peeled back and recorded. It was 'a large painting of seven figures, nearly the size of life, the subject being the Transfiguration on the Mount.' Christ was depicted in the centre with his right hand lifted, a gilded halo around his head. Moses stood at His right, holding the Tables of the Ten Commandments in his hands. Elias and the Disciples were also pictured, their faces all 'exquisitely painted'. This painting was said to have covered the whole of the chancel wall to each edge and so would have been imposing to medieval and early Tudor spectators.
There are no traces of these paintings today. Once the architects at the church in 1848 had peeled back layers of whitewash, lime and paint to get to St Laurence's earliest works the walls seem to have been washed back over. It is uncertain what damage they may have done through their curiosity, and their reports suggest they did not gently peel a small amount of paint and plaster back but set out to unravel, at some speed, the walls of the rest of the church. They described large paintings spanning from wall to wall, with large groups of people and detailed scenes, and I can't help but think they might have stood a better chance of survival if had been stumbled on today, with our modern conservation and recording techniques. But then, without a chance removal of a wooden screen in the mid 1800s we might still know nothing of St Laurence's lost wall paintings. It's possible though, that they might still one day emerge. I for one would love to see them.
Liked this? You might also like: Walk in the Footsteps of the Tudors in Reading, Medieval Residents of Reading: Thomas and Elizabeth Clerk and my other posts on the history of Reading.
Sources:
Charles Kerry. A History of the Municipal Church of St Lawrence, Reading. Derby, 1883.
Visit to St Laurence's Church, Reading. July 2025.
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