Face from the 1200s or 1300s. Medieval wall painting in Parish Church of St Mary in the Cotswolds, at Ampney St. Mary, Gloucestershire, England.
Ampney St. Mary, Gloucestershire, England, UK: remains of 13th and 14th century wall paintings inside the Cotswolds ‘Ivy Church’, the 12th century Church of St. Mary, include this mysterious medieval face staring through festoons of cobwebs. The church acquired its informal name centuries after it had lost its congregation in about 1350, at the height of the Black Death plague pandemic that swept through Western Europe. The villagers seem to have left their homes around the church and to have rebuilt Ampney St Mary on higher ground more than a mile away. The last few houses on the old site began to decay when the nearby road fell out of use in the 18th century, and in 1877, when the parish was united with Ampney St. Peter, the isolated church was abandoned to fast-climbing evergreen ivy. The ivy was finally cleared from the church in 1913. It has since been restored and is now open once again.
Size: 6895px × 4602px
Location: Church of St Mary, Ampney St Mary, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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