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Competition: create a mini wall painting for your chance to win a £100 goody bag!

Learn all about the priceless wall paintings in churches and castles around the country, then use our template to create your very own mini wall paintings!

Wall paintings at Longthorpe Tower in Cambridgeshire

What are wall paintings?

For thousands of years, people have given us glimpses into their lives and interests through wall paintings. These are works of art painted directly on to the walls and ceilings of churches, castles, houses and even caves. You will sometimes hear wall paintings described as frescoes, friezes or murals.

English Heritage has the largest collection of wall paintings in the country. These range from a scene of water nymphs in Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent to images of kings, musicians and saints in Longthorpe Tower in Cambridgeshire (pictured). Incredibly, the wall paintings at Longthorpe Tower stayed hidden for hundreds of years until they were rediscovered in 1945.

Paintings of angels surrounding Jesus on the ceiling of the Heaven Closet at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire

Heavenly visions

The Litte Castle is one of many buildings at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire. Its rooms are richly decorated with wall paintings from the early 17th century. There are particularly beautiful ones in two small rooms known as closets. On the ceiling of the Heaven Closet (pictured) are angels surrounding Jesus. The Elysium Closet depicts Roman gods such as Bacchus, the god of wine, and Mercury, the messenger god.

 

Biblical wall paintings at St Mary’s Church, Kempley in Gloucestershire

Medieval churches

Another amazing collection of wall paintings can be found at St Mary’s Church, Kempley in Gloucestershire. These date back to the medieval period and give us a peek at a time when the insides of churches were covered in art such as this. When they were first painted, the colours would have been bold and bright. The paintings tell stories from the Bible and the lives of saints, and show terrifying visions of demons and hell.

Trompe l’oeile paintings in the Archer Pavilion at Wrest Park in Derbyshire

Trick of the eye

The Archer Pavilion is one of the highlights of the beautiful gardens at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. It was once used to entertain guests in style, with parties and lavish banquets.

The domed pavilion was designed by the architect Thomas Archer, and the magnificent wall paintings inside are by an artist called Mark Anthony Hauduroy. The imagery and family portraits decorating the walls are thought to celebrate the owner of Wrest Park, Henry Grey, becoming a duke in 1710. In some places Hauduroy has used a technique called trompe l’oeil. This is a way of making paintings look 3D so people might think the objects in the picture are real.

A young girl draws her wall painting design

Send us your wall painting designs

Now you’ve read about some of the finest wall paintings in England, why not have a go at designing your own? Click the button below to download a template that you can print out and make into a model of a room (instructions on how to do this are below).

Colour in the walls of your model room using pencils, felt-tip pens, crayons or paints. Imagine this is a room you can decorate with whatever wall paintings you like. You could do pictures of people and landscapes, pets and favourite things, or simply a great pattern.

Download your template

How to create your wall paintings

You will need:

  • Print-out of the model room
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Coloured pencils, paint, felt-tip pens or similar

  • Step 1

    Download the template and then print it out on a sheet of plain white A4 paper.

  • Step 2

    Cut around the edge of the template to create the shape shown here. This is your floor and three walls.

  • Step 3

    Fill in all the segments with cool paintings, drawings, patterns or other designs – whatever you feel like!

  • Step 4

    Fold the sides together to create three walls and a floor. Fold the tabs around the back and glue in place.

Watercolour paint boxes

How to enter

Once you’ve created your mini room with wall paintings, you can enter it into our competition to be in with a chance of winning a goody bag of prizes worth £100 from our online shop. Ask an adult to scan or take a clear photograph of your wall paintings and send it to us at members.magazine@english-heritage.org.uk, along with your full name and age, and your parent or guardian’s membership number, name and address.

Please make sure you have your parent or guardian’s permission to enter and check the terms and conditions below. Entries must be in by midnight on 4 January 2025. Good luck!

 

Enter now!

Terms and Conditions

  • Terms and Conditions
    • The Promoter is: The English Heritage Trust, incorporated and registered in England and Wales with company number 7447221 and charity number 1140351 whose registered office is at The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, SN2 2EH (‘English Heritage’).
    • These terms and conditions apply to the ‘Create a mini wall painting Competition’ (‘the Competition’), running from Friday 27 September 2024 (the ‘Opening Date’) until midnight Saturday 4 January 2025 (the ‘Closing Date’).
    • All Competition entries received after the Closing Date shall be automatically disqualified.
    • No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
    • The Competition is open to English Heritage Young Members resident in the United Kingdom. Entrants under the age of 13 will need permission from a parent or guardian (aged 18 or over).
    • Employees or contractors of English Heritage, any person directly or indirectly involved in English Heritage or the running of the Competition, or their direct family members are not eligible for the prize.
    • There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this Competition.
    • By entering this Competition, each entrant is agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions.
    • Entries must be sent as a scanned or photographed file with clear details of the entrant’s name and age, and a parent or guardians name, email, address and membership number. Entries submitted in any other way will not be accepted.
    • The winning entrant will be contacted via email to the email address provided.
    • Obscene or inappropriate entries will not be accepted and English Heritage reserves the right to reject any entries for any reason at its sole discretion.
    • Entries must not infringe the copyright of anyone else and entrants will hold English Heritage harmless from any claims in relation to their entry alleging that the entry infringes the personal or proprietary right of any other person.
    • Only one entry will be accepted per person.  Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified.
    • English Heritage reserves the right to cancel or amend the Competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.  Any changes to the Competition will be notified to entrants by English Heritage.
    • The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
    • The winner will be contacted by Friday 17 January 2025. If a Competition winner cannot be contacted or does not claim their prize within 14 days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the Competition winner and pick a replacement Competition winner.
    • The Competition winner’s name may be published on English Heritage’s website and social media channels in a shortened form.
    • English Heritage reserves the right to substitute any prize for one of equal or greater value.
    • The Competition prize is as stated and no cash or other alternatives will be offered. The Competition prize is not transferable.
    • The Competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
    • This Competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other social network. You are providing your information to English Heritage and not to any other party.
    • The information provided will be used in conjunction with the following Privacy Policy found at: www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/our-people/our-policies/privacy-policy/. The personal data you provide will only be used for the purposes of the Competition and will be destroyed once the Competition has ended.
    • English Heritage shall have the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these terms and conditions, such change shall be effective immediately upon posting to this webpage.

     

    The Competition Prize:

    • One entrant will receive a goody bag of items to the value of £100, selected from the English Heritage online shop.
    • The Competition winner will be chosen by a panel of judges appointed by English Heritage.
    • No cash alternative to the prize will be offered.