Reformation defamation

St Andrews, Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire




Roods screens were once commonplace in British churches dividing the chancel from the nave and keeping the "rif raf" away from the clergy. A rood is a cross which sits on top of the screen often flanked by figures. The screens themselves were richly carved and the lower panels frequently decorated with images of Saints and the Virgin Mary. Very few remain now as they were then due to the destructive forces of the reformation. Those which do often bear the damage inflicted from that time. This is a typical example with scratches and score marks across the faces of both the figures.