The Chancel ceiling
The modern ceiling of the chancel is flat in appearance but archaeological investigation showed that the original ceiling was pitched in line with the roof, with exposed rafters. It is possible that the ceiling was whitewashed in line with the rest of the interior of the chapel. However, an undated roll of fine indicates that the painter was paid "...3s 4d..." for painting the ceiling. This is quite a high sum for a coat of whitewash and equates to around 8 days work. Even considering that the monies paid to the painter may have had to cover the cost of his materials the amount paid seems very high and it would certainly not have taken a painter 8 days to paint a ceiling of approximately 40 m² with whitewash.
There was a fashion during this period for church ceilings to be painted blue with gold stars - a representation of the sky. In his Essay on Church Furniture and Decoration Reverend Edward Cutts makes repeated reference to this type of color scheme being observed on a considerable amount church ceilings he studied (1854 pp 12,13,18,19,20,21). The nave of Holy Trinity church in Coventry also features a painting of Doom above the chancel arch and a blue ceiling with gold stars as does St Mary's in Beverly which dates from 1450-1525.
One problem with the use of blue for the ceiling in the chancel, particularly Ultramarine which is made from lapis lazuli, is its cost. During the 15th century this color, due to its difficult extraction process was as expensive as gold (Lang et al 2002). Whilst the sum paid to the painter at the Guild Chapel was high it was not extravagantly so.
There is mention in the Masters' and Proctors' Accounts (BRT 1/3/38) of various paints that were used on the interior prior to the building of the chancel which indicates the colors that were available and, more importantly, affordable. Mention is made of the various lead colors (red and white) and 'Zalow' which translates as 'Yallow' or yellow and most intriguingly a color described as 'ynde bawdyat' which remained unidentified for some time. After much research the consensus was that the term was derived from 'woad' or 'indigo' and 'crude' 'bawdy' or 'cheap' so the color described in the Masters' and Proctors' accounts as 'ynde bawdyat' could probably be translated as a 'cheap blue' as opposed to the more expensive ultramarine. It therefore seemed possible that that an affordable 'cheap blue' paint was used to paint the ceiling of the chancel together with 'Zalow' or yellow coloured stars. A blue material with its RGB values sampled from a high quality image of woad pigment together with yellow stars was applied to the ceiling of the chancel.
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