The two free-standing private family chapels considered here are located in North Wales and Leicestershire. They date from the 17th century and remain intact and essentially unaltered internally and externally. The furniture and arrangements of both are designed for 17th-century Anglican worship. The chapels were built by prominent local landowners with High Church leanings. A striking feature of both chapels is their unusual painted ceilings which are the focus of this paper. The ceilings are painted on wooden boards and appear naive in style and execution. The nave ceiling of Staunton Harold was signed and dated in 1655 and the ceilings of the aisles and chancel were, painted in the 1660s: surviving accounts name the painter. There is much less known about the origin of Gwydir Uchaf s painting, with no record of the date or craftsmen, although the chapel itself is dated 1673. The painting style more closely resembles the chancel ceiling at Staunton. The ceilings are described and compared. They represent a very small group of surviving painted ceilings of 17th-century churches and chapels in Britain. It is suggested that further research considering all of these works may reveal more about their origin and symbolism and how they fit into a wider British and continental context.
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