TRAILS LEAFLET SERIES: ROOD SCREENS

The rood or chancel screen was the visual focus of the medieval parish church, separating the sacred space of the chancel from the public nave.  In East Anglia, many richly decorated screens survive as testimony to the impressive craftsmanship of medieval painters and carpenters and also to parish pride and patronage. These screens are a unique reminder of the engagement of ordinary people with the Christian Church and of their devotional preferences, representing one of the most important means of communication before widespread literacy. As a body, existing fifteenth-century rood screen paintings form the most significant corpus of late medieval English painting.

This series aims to draw attention to some of these medieval treasures and to encourage visitors to explore the beautiful churches where these screens are to be found.

Written and produced by Hungate Medieval Art in collaboration with Sarah Cassell at the University of East Anglia as part of the 2012 ‘Heaven’s Gate: Medieval Rood Screens from Norfolk’ exhibition. Designed by Brian Williams Korteling and printed with support of the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust. Many of the photographs in this set of rood screen trails are taken from the book Norfolk Rood Screens by Paul Hurst and Jeremy Haselock, published by Phillimore in 2012.

Set of 15 leaflets. PLEASE NOTE: nos. 10, 12 and 13 are currently sold out; full sets purchased at present will not include these leaflets. Pdfs of these leaflets can still be downloaded from the Trails page.