''Saint George and the Dragon'' is a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

in the chapel of

Farleigh Hungerford Castle Farleigh Hungerford Castle, sometimes called Farleigh Castle or Farley Castle, is a medieval castle in Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England. The castle was built in two phases: the inner court was constructed between 1377 and 1383 by Sir T ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Details

Between 1430 and 1445

Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (1378 – 9 August 1449) was an English knight and landowner, from 1400 to 1414 a Member of the House of Commons, of which he became Speaker, then was an Admiral and peer. He won renown in the Hund ...

, a former

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, expanded his castle at

Farleigh Hungerford Farleigh Hungerford () is a village within the civil parish of Norton St Philip in the Mendip district, in Somerset, England, 9 miles southeast of Bath, 3½ miles west of Trowbridge on A366, between Trowbridge and Radstock in the valley of the ...

considerably. The extension to the castle enclosed the former

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, which became Walter's castle chapel, with a replacement church being built in the village. Walter had the chapel decorated with a number of

s, depicting scenes from the story of

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

; Saint George was a favoured saint of Walter's patron,

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

, and associated with the prestigious

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...

, of which Walter was a proud member. The chapel fell into ruin in the early 18th century, only being restored in 1779. The murals were rediscovered in 1844, and the castle and chapel became a 19th-century tourist attraction. The castle began to pass from private ownership into the hands of the

Office of Works The Office of Works was established in the England, English Royal Household, royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of W ...

from 1915 onwards. Attempts were made to preserve the wall paintings in the chapel during 1931 and 1955, but the treatments, which involved the use of red

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

, stained the paintings and caused considerable damage; the wax was removed in the 1970s. The castle and chapel were recorded as

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1984, and are now owned by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

; the chapel is open to the public during the summer season. The historian Simon Roffey describes the painting as a "remarkable" work.Roffey, p.73.

Notes

Bibliography

*Creighton, Oliver Hamilton. (2005)
Castles and Landscapes: Power, Community and Fortification in Medieval England.
' London: Equinox. . * Jackson, J. E. (1851) "Farleigh Hungerford Castle, Somerset," ''Proceedings of Somerset Archaeology'' 1–3 pp.114–124. *Kightly, Charles. (2006)
Farleigh Hungerford Castle.
' London: English Heritage. . *Miles, T. J and A. D. Saunders. (1975) "The Chantry House at Farleigh Hungerford Castle," ''Medieval Archaeology'' 19, pp.165–94. *Roffey, Simon. (2007)
The Medieval Chantry Chapel: an Archaeology.
' Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. {{ISBN, 978-1-84383-334-5. Murals in the United Kingdom Arts in Somerset * Saint George and the Dragon