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Denton has never been a particularly rich parish and the main Church and chapel site catalogues the continuous struggle to keep the basic fabric of the building weather tight and functional in successive centuries. The shape of the interior has always been simple, without aisles and pillars – it is basically a rectangular preaching room with an added chancel and tower. The windows are tall and pointed and let in good light but often, over the years, this has only served to highlight the drab and often decaying nature of the flat plaster walls.
In mediaeval times some churches had crude pictures drawn on the walls – a welcome distraction for church goers – especially the many illiterate ones - but during the 16th century such drawings were regarded as idolatrous and painted over. In the early years of the 20th century plain white-washed walls were something a young choir boy at St. Peters Church in Northampton used to muse over during interminable sermons and prayers, and his artistic mind could imagine the flaking surface being decorated with figures worthy of the columns and arches that supported them. Years were to pass and that choir boy, Henry Bird, now married with a family, was struggling to make a living as an artist and art teacher despite having won a scholarship at the Royal College of Art. He taught at Aberystwyth University for some time and then returned to Northampton in 1950. He was busy teaching but did get the opportunity to indulge his liking of mural work by being commissioned to provide a mural scheme in the small chapel at St Crispin’s Hospital in Northampton. This was important because some years later one of the visitors to St Crispin’s was Mr Peter Walker, at the time a churchwarden at Denton who was impressed with the way the murals there had brightened up what were plain walls – very much like those at Denton. Thus the seed of an idea was sown. The suggestion was put to the vicar, Rev. Eltoft, and the Parochial Church Council both of whom were enthusiastic and so contact was made with Henry Bird to discuss the possibilities further. The artist was keen to be involved and between 1960 -1963 he worked on producing a scale model. The scheme that evolved sought to bring together aspects of the church and local life. Most scenes showed biblical stories, but the Denton women defending the water pump also figured and the whole scheme was knitted together by the fact that most of the figures were modelled on local Denton folk – a shrewd commercial move as their services came free of charge! However, progress on the plan came to an abrupt halt when, in 1963, the authorities, in the form of the Diocesan Advisory Committee and Council for the Care of Churches, refused to approve the scheme and issue the faculty that  would permit the work to go ahead. A copy of their letter to this effect to Rev Eltoft is shown left.
Urgent appeals for reconsideration were made repeatedly, but to no avail, and no further explanation of the reason for the decision was forthcoming from the authorities.
Both the members of the PCC and Henry Bird were naturally downcast. So much work had been done and yet a remote and uncooperative bureaucracy had the ability to block their endeavours without needing to justify their decision. But Denton folk are nothing if not stubborn and the perceived unfairness of the situation seemed to just strengthen their resolve. They were determined the scheme would not remain just a scale model. Nonetheless months turned into years with no progress. During the period since the very first germ of the mural idea in 1960 when Rev. Eltoft was the vicar, the parish of Denton had seen several changes. Rev Eltoft had retired in 1964 and then there were two vicars Rev. Harry Bamber and Rev. Colin Symes who had each stayed for only a few years each. In 1968, however, Rev. Jim Davies took on the job and he was equally, if not more, enthusiastic as his predecessors in pursuing the cause. Indeed it is probably true to say that he was the primary driving force in getting the scheme progressed. An unexpected ally came to light in the person of the Ven. Basil Marsh, Archdeacon of Northampton. He had become a member of the advisory committee which itself had undergone changes and had a new chairman, Mr D. Lawson. The Archdeacon liked the scheme and indicated to Denton PCC he felt the Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Cyril Eastaugh, may now also look favourably upon it. A young Earl Compton, son of the Marquis of Northampton who was patron of the church, also voiced his support for the mural plan and followed it with interest. He commended the appeal for funds for what he described as and ambitious and exciting venture. He said, ‘There are frequent appeals for the restoration of old churches or for building new ones; but it is extremely unusual to be invited to contribute to an appeal for a notable artistic addition to an ancient church. It is a splendid opportunity to help the people of Denton in adding something of the 20th century to a much older building’. One complication was that it had become apparent that if the mural scheme was to proceed it would not just be a question of Henry Bird painting the walls, as there were significant implications throughout the church as a whole. A survey by James Scott of Kettering architects Blackwell, Storry and Scott reported that the wooden dado rails were rotting, the floor and pews were bad in some places and needed mending with some side pews replacing and the whole lighting and heating system also needed an overhaul. Furthermore advice sought from an expert, Professor Robert Baker had concluded that the plaster walls could not be simply washed off before painting began as much of the plaster was failing and need replacement. Also a special type and finish of plaster was needed for the walls to be suitable for having murals painted on them. Finally, and contentiously, Mr Scott indicated from his discussions with the advisory committee it was clear that they would like the altar moved to a much more forward position. All these changes with, of course, the costs involved, would need to be done before Henry Bird could put brush to wall. Furthermore the artist was completely opposed to moving the altar as he designed the whole scheme and had produced his scale model and sketches on the assumption the altar would remain where it was. He felt if it were moved it would necessitate virtually starting again from scratch. However an agreement was negotiated between the warring parties and the altar was to be moved as far forward as possible without meaning the whole scheme was compromised. The long awaited faculty to proceed with the work was at last forthcoming. The wrangling over, the next task was to fund the whole project. Henry Bird had, to date, been working for virtually nothing but to get to this stage had already created a debt of £400. The repairs and alterations were estimated at £1500 on top of which there would be the main costs of Henry Bird’s services plus scaffolding etc. However, having got the go-ahead the small matter of funding was not going to hold the church members of Denton back after so many years of frustration. The restoration work was funded by loans totalling £1250. Grants were investigated but none were available. So stripping the failed plaster from the walls was started and the other works put in hand while Henry Bird got on with drawing up full-size cartoons from his earlier sketches. The starting of the cartoons produced an unexpected potential boost to the fund-raising effort as the opportunity arose to put them on public exhibition. However only a month’s notice was given and so the news sparked off a frantic period of activity during which villagers acting as models were ferried to and from Henry Bird’s studio above the Northampton & County Club in George Row Northampton to be drawn. As 31 people, in total, were involved this was a considerable task. The job was completed in time however and the cartoons were exhibited from 16th May to 6th June 1970 at the Art Gallery in Guildhall Road, Northampton where they aroused considerable interest. Later equal enthusiasm was forthcoming when the exhibition moved on firstly to St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge and then to Peterborough Cathedral.
The plastering of the walls was well on the way to completion by Easter 1973 and the ceiling later that year but complications arose with the ceiling structure and electrical work which took the project into 1974.
The replastering work had severely depleted the church's already modest funds. However the village of Denton was expanding at the time with the new houses built on The Leys development in particular and the Electricity Board needed land on which to build a new sub-station.
A small area of the church's allotments on the Whiston Road was sold to the Electricity Board for this purpose and the church authorities allowed St Margaret's church to use half of the money raised to fund the replastering work.
By then Henry Bird had retired after 23 years on the staff at Northampton College of Art so was in a position to give himself fully to the project.
Thus the whole scheme was, at long last, under way. Henry had called in a favour from a friend who owned the Big Ben Scaffolding Company in London, and he agreed to provide the scaffolding free of charge for what was going to be a considerable length of time. It was February 1975 when the first scene was commenced and this was the mural immediately to the right of the North Door of the church depicting Salome, Joanna & Mary. Once painting had begun church attendance flourished as people went week by week to view the progress made and see new scenes being started and there were plenty of local faces to recognise. The artist continued working in an orderly clockwise direction and very gradually the job crept nearer completion.
It was expected the whole project would take 2 years to complete and cost at least £3,000. To fund the work great efforts were made with the holding of regular fundraising events which were well supported by the village as a whole, not just the church members. However, it was towards the end of 1976 when the work was all but done – by this time Henry Bird was getting on for age 70 and must have been thankful such a protracted task was complete. The fitting and wiring of the lamp standards was then carried out and finished in 1977. Extra decorative painting work was done by B. Bates and carpentry work was undertaken by William Underwood.
Henry Bird's experience as head scenic painter at both the Old Vic Theatre and Sadler’s Wells had prepared him well for such large scale painting and around the same time he had just completed creating the safety curtain of the Royal Theatre, Northampton – one of his finest pieces of work still on show to theatregoers to this day. His work is highly regarded in the world of art – Pietro Annigoni, best known for his iconic 1954 picture of the Queen commented on Bird’s work ‘drawing is unusually good’ whilst L.S.Lowry said of the artist ‘a fine draughtsman, with a great sensitivity and quality of line’. Thirty years later the murals are still in fine condition, a tribute to both the artist and, in particular, the knowledge and skill of the plasterers.
Thanks remain due to the Committee that had steered the project to its successful conclusion. In addition to the artist, Earl Compton as patron and Rev James Davies the vicar there was a committee of church supporters chaired by Charles Bloor, with churchwardens William Bettles and Eric Carr, Mrs Kathleen Carr as treasurer and Mrs Gladys Warren and Mrs Audrey Shoebridge.
A more full explanation of each scene of the scheme and photos can be seen on the Denton in Pictures website - www.tiny.cc/dentoninpictures.
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