YOU might think crime novelist Agatha Christie has nothing in common with Roman Centurions and marauding Vikings.

But they are all featured in a striking new village mural showing 3,000 years of South Oxfordshire history.

A group of villagers in Cholsey, near Wallingford, has spent the past six months painstakingly painting the two-by-four metre fresco at their village hall.

On Sunday they pulled back the curtain on their lovingly-crafted creation at Cholsey Pavilion.

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Oxfordshire county councillor for Cholsey Mark Gray said: “The painting is a wonderful celebration of our village.

“As well as being really visually striking it could help mums and dads explain the rich history of Cholsey to the younger generation. It will be seen by visitors to Cholsey too, of course, and who knows, maybe it will inspire other communities to dig out some paints and some brushes so they can tell their stories too.”

The new £1.2m Cholsey Pavilion was built in Station Road last year, replacing a 1960s hall destroyed by arson in 2005.

Cholsey Parish Council took out a £350,000 mortgage to pay for the building.

South Oxfordshire District Council gave £250,000, adding to £185,000 of developer contributions from homes built at the Fairmile housing estate.

The pavilion will eventually house the village library, youth centre, community hall, café, parish council office and, potentially, a doctors’ surgery.

But it was Cholsey resident Mark Toal who came up with the idea for daubing an historical scene on the walls.

He said: “This great new space in our village inspired me to think of the work. I felt we needed something to fill the pavilion’s big walls.”

After discussing options with Cholsey Development Trust, which runs the pavilion, they agreed a huge painting about the fascinating history of the village, painted by people from the village, would work well.

Mr Toal found four artistic volunteers – Sarah Jex, Terry Gillard, Eleanor Sayer and Vicky Beardall-Richards – and they have worked for one day a week for the past six months.

The trust funded paints, brushes and other materials.

Mr Toal said: “Enormous thanks must go to the trust, in particular chairman James Butler and Val Bolt, who helped to shape the project from its earliest days.”

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