Exquisite church artwork to go on public display

By Barrie Hudson - 27 July 2023

Arts and CultureAttractions

The famous St John Triptych painting at St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze will be on public display from Friday to Sunday, 28-30 July.

The work of William Larkin, court painter to King James I, the triptych is rarely open to the public, but is being displayed to mark its 408th anniversary, having been  installed  St Mary’s on 20 July 1615.   
It will be available for viewing from 11am-4pm on the Friday, 11am-3pm on the Saturday and 2-4 pm on the Sunday.
A spokesperson for the church said: "We will also be celebrating the 410 anniversary of  James I visit to Lydiard  Tregoze in July 1613. 
"St Mary’s is one of the finest small churches in the country, further described as a rare example of of an English Renaissance Church.  
"There has been over 1,100 years of continual Christian worship on this site up to and including present day, St Mary’s has an amazing interior of treasures from all the centuries."
In October 2018  the National Lottery Heritage  Fund awarded a major heritage grant to St Mary’s  to restore the historic interiors. 
The main  focus was the conservation of the extensive and nationally important  Medieval wall paintings, identified by the Church of England as one of the 100 art works currently most in need of conservation in their 100 Church Treasures Appeal.
The conservation works  started in November 2018, continuing though 2019, with completion of the Medieval wall paintings by the end of September  2020 and final works by December 2021. 
 

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