Interior views, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copford Green. Location map
 
  Photograph of the Apse, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copford Green, Essex, England   Copford Green Church.

This shows the interior of the Apse which houses the magnificent 'Christ in Glory' fresco. Christ in apocalyptic grandeur, enthroned upon a rainbow, looks down from the vault above the officiating priest.

Around the underside of the chancel arch are the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

 

Enlarge Comment  
 
  Photograph of Signs of the Zodiac, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copford Green, Essex, England   Copford Green Church.

Some of the signs of the Zodiac are shown in closer detail here with the Apse on the left and the Nave to the right.

It is very unusual to find signs of the zodiac in this position. When they were uncovered at the end of the 19th century, after being hidden for over three hundred years, the figures of Leo, Cancer and the Virgin (with a halo) were found intact, others were partially recognisable, while some could only be restored by following the original scratch marks. No other English church seems to possess a complete Zodiac. That it appears at all seems to suggest a very early date.

 

Enlarge Comment  
 
  Photograph wall painting in the Nave, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copford Green, Essex, England   Copford Green Church.

A section of wall in the Nave between two of the arches.

 

 

Enlarge Comment  
 
  Photograph of the Raising of Jairus's Daughter, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Copford Green, Essex, England   Copford Green Church.

The best-preserved Romanesque fresco in the church is the Raising of Jairus's Daughter. This is positioned in the first bay of the nave at the lunette (semi-circular space) above the rectangular pulpit window.

 

 

Enlarge Comment