Winchester's Hidden Mural

In 1921, a Hot Roll for the Chamber Six football team was drawn in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry – it attracted many admirers. One was the bursar (also archivist) Herbert Chitty (D, 1876-82; Staff, 1907-27) and he gave permission for the roll, or a version of it, to be painted on the wall of one of the Chambers. This was done by the scholar who had drawn the original roll, Christopher Hawkes (Coll, 1918-24), during the summer of 1924. In this version, Hawkes developed his ideas to include a host of recognisable members of the school.

Hawkes wrote that as the wall was divided into two halves by projecting beams, this gave him the idea of having two processions. On one side is a procession of pre-eminent Wykehamical characters, heading towards a ‘Temple of Wiccamical Glory’ where the Founder greets them. The procession is led by the Head Porter, followed by the Warden (Lord Selborne), Headmaster (M J Rendall) and Second Master (Rev AT P Williams). On the other side, walking back in the other direction into Limbo are several teachers, including Mr Robertson (known as The Bobber) with his enormous feet and wearing the uniform of the head of the Rifle Corps. 

Above and below this main procession run upper and lower margins, much like in the Bayeux Tapestry, and these feature an assortment of little scenes. One shows the College Cook, Miss Easton, with her dog Donald, and then the chamber men who cleaned both the Chambers and the scholars’ shoes. The hairdresser Mr Hinxman is also shown, followed by Mr Bendle and his fellow workmen, Messrs Offer and Broad, known to the boys as Mate and Mate’s Mate. Then follow scenes of scholars getting themselves into various scrapes.

In the very bottom right-hand corner are the artist, Hawkes, and the bursar, Mr Chitty, complete with his umbrella and Gladstone bag, waving his greetings on his way into College. It is thought that Chitty personally paid for the paint and for the preparation of the wall when the mural was painted in 1924.

In 1957, Hawkes came back to Winchester and helped to re-paint the mural, and it has had further conservation work and re-touching since then.