St Mary's Church, Kempley

St Mary's Church at Kempley is a small Norman church built around 1130, probably by Hugh de Lacy, and now stands apart from the village it once served. Its plain exterior hides some of the best-preserved medieval wall paintings in Britain. In the chancel, painted in the early 12th century, Christ sits on a rainbow at the Apocalypse amid the symbols of the Evangelists, while the Apostles gaze up from thrones on either side; together these form the most complete set of Romanesque paintings in northern Europe. The nave adds later scenes such as the Wheel of Life and St Michael weighing souls. Hidden under whitewash after the Reformation, the paintings were rediscovered in 1872. Tree-ring dating shows the church keeps the oldest timber roof of any building in England. Reviewers are struck by how much of the painting survives. The Friends of Kempley Church look after it, and there is limited free parking on the roadside opposite.