In 1925 the Victoria & Albert Museum acquired, through the National Art-Collections Fund, an oak figure of the Virgin and Child*, its former owners, the then residents of Langham Hall, asserting that it had come from Langham Church. Dating from 1220-30, the piece retains much of its original colouring. It is almost certainly an altar figure and would probably have been enclosed in a winged tabernacle. Such figures, together with those forming part of a rood, were the most common form of devotional image in wood in the Middle Ages. They were made in large numbers but suffered almost total destruction at the Reformation and in the 17th century, being readily removed from churches and burned. The Langham Virgin and Child, although no more than a typical product of 13th century England, is significant as the sole known survivor.
