" Copford was originally a manor held by the Bishop of London's office. Upon the death of Edmund Bonner in 1569 (also buried here) the land briefly became property of The Crown until 1609 when it returned to private ownership once more[citation needed]. The parish church of St Michael is renowned for its 12th-century Norman wall paintings that are among the best in England.[citation needed] The church door has been found to have human skin attached, possibly as a gruesome remnant of the ancient punishment meted out to those who invaded the sanctity of the church.
Adjacent to the church is the manorial house of Copford Hall.

Circa 1130: On completion of the building works, the decoration scheme completely covers all wall and vaulted surfaces with a series of approximately 34 subjects. The paintings may have been the work of a Master Hugo of Bury St Edmunds. Abbot Anselm of Bury was elected bishop by King Stephen and was known to have been aware of and influenced by the Byzantine art tradition that was then prevalent in Rome. It is known that Abbot Anselm's sacristan, Hervey, commissioned a Master Hugo to oversee the artistic work carried out at Bury in the 1130s, including the Bury Bible. The marked similarity in style between that and the Copford frescoes suggests that Hugo had a hand in both. It was the practice for the master craftsman to execute the outline of murals, leaving his apprentices to fill in details later. This is what happened at Copford. The outlines were drawn on the wet plaster - true fresco - and the details were finished later after the plaster had been re-wetted.

1872: Daniel Bell undertakes the overpainted 'restoration' of the apse paintings, giving a pre-Raphaelite flavour to the angels and a halo to Christ. Unfortunately, he also uses the wrong type of plaster which is now causing serious damage.

Description: The apse houses the magnificent Christ in Glory fresco. Christ in apocalyptic grandeur, enthroned upon a rainbow, looks down from the vault above the officiating priest on the supplicant congregation in the nave below. Surrounded by angels and attended by ranks of apostles the divine image is the ultimate statement of power and authority.

As part of the Victorian overpainting of the apse by Daniel Bell, the figures on the vault were partially repainted. However, the apostles between the windows were almost completely overpainted and the lower halves of their figures reconstructed because they had become indistinct or had disappeared altogether. It seems Bell was prone to adding 'details' that were not present in the original composition, including the symbols carried by the apostles and the rather Gothic-looking crown on the head of Christ, but also tidying up the outlines and altering facial features. For example, a crowned Christ in a mandorla ( almond-shaped panel) is unknown from the England of that period. Even so, the power and authority of the figures and the general composition must surely owe more to the Romanesque artist who originally created them than to Bell. The archangels Michael and Gabriel on the splays (obliquely angled surfaces) of the east window are paintings entirely by Bell.

The chancel arch is decorated with bands of 'meander' patterns and, on its soffit(under surface), with the twelve signs of the zodiac. These terminate above the capital on the north side with a rising sun and on the south side with a semi-crescent moon. It is very unusual to find signs of the zodiac in this position. When they were uncovered at the end of the 19th century, after being hidden for over three hundred years, the figures of Leo, Cancer and the Virgin (with a halo) were found intact, others were partially recognisable, while some could only be restored by following the original scratch marks. No other English church seems to possess a complete Zodiac. That it appears at all seems to suggest a very early date.

from the excellent Copford church website