Among Little Missenden's greatest treasures are its medieval wall paintings, dating from the late 12th century and with examples from every century for half a millennium.

A programme of remedial & conservation works at Little Missenden Church, the Christopher Project was launched in 2014 with the aim of conserving the wall paintings throughout the church and improving their presentation. Following a considerable amount of hard work by the Project Team, and years of preparation, the Church was awarded a grant from the 'Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund' to enable the re-roofing of the Nave and Chancel in 2016, and a Heritage Lottery Grant of over £300,000 to enable the conservation work to proceed in the summer of 2017. This was augmented by a significant amount of fundraising by the Parish Church, which continues in earnest.

The paintings were first uncovered in 1931 by the then vicar, Revd William Davis. The paintings had been hidden under limewash following the Reformation in the 15th century, to save them from vandalism or destruction by the Monarch's troops who travelled the nation's churches destroying anything that suggested loyalty to the 'old' church, now that the King had declared himself 'Supreme Governor of the Church in England' as opposed to the Pope. 

Davis set about investigating traces of painting on the north wall of the nave, scraping away limewash with a penknife! He called upon the expert services of conservator Professor Tristram, who comprehensively 'excavated' much of the painting we see today throughout the interior of the church (excavation is an appropriate term, as judiciously removing layers of limewash and plaster to reach back in time is very much like archaeology on a vertical plane).

Aside from the north wall of the Nave, which had been conserved on at least three occasions in the ensuing decades, the remainder of the church had been left largely untouched for 80 years, and the paintings, other than those of St Christopher and St Catherine, had become progressively obscured. This deterioration was compounded by the fact that in the 1930s, the prevailing approach to conservation was to cover the paintings with a layer of wax: alarmingly, this was achieved by heating the surface of the painting with a blow-torch and then brushing over with wax, which would immediately turn translucent. What was not appreciated at the time was that the wax prevented the ancient plaster from breathing naturally, and over time absorbed dirt and grime, darkening the paintings to the point that they were far less clear.