Georges and Dragons

Left, late fifteenth century St George in St George’s Church, Kelmscott. Right, St George by Veronica Whall 1928 in Christ Church Eastbourne,

Over the years I’ve been collecting St George windows, a saint easy to identify from the red cross that is his emblem, his suit of armour and the dragon that always appears at his feet. In the more dynamic versions he is spearing the dragon from his horse, the similarities of the pose in versions made almost 500 years apart, shown above, are striking.

Left, St George by Jones & Willis 1905 in St George, Orcheston. Centre, St George by Morris and Co. 1860s in St Nicholas Beaudesert, Henley in Arden. Right, St George by Theodora Salusbury c. 1920 in All Saints, Newton Linford.

More often he is standing more or less on the dragon, holding a shield and a spear. What really interests me are the dragons which are always at the bottom of the windows and therefore easy to examine and photograph. In every example I have from the 1860s to the 1930s (above and below) the dragon is made of luscious streaky glass in a range of rich colours, purples, pinks, greens and blues. They are lovely but confusing pictorially as the deep colours jump forward, even when the dragon is in the background.

Left, dragon by C.E. Kempe in St David 1898, Moreton in Marsh. Right, dragon by Morris of Westminster 1930 in St Barnabas, Swindon.

Left, dragon by Aldam, Heaton & Co. in St Michael and All Angels, Brinkworth. Right, dragon in St Oswald, Lythe.

Some of the loveliest dragons are at the feet of the Archangel Michael instead. In the two examples above their long jaws and scales show up better on paler streaky glass, and in the two examples below (left and middle) you know it’s St Michael not from the inscription but from his wings. In one of my favourite sets of local windows there is a beautiful dragon made of red flashed glass at the feet of St Margaret (below right).

Left, St Michael in St John the Baptist, Kingston Lisle by Heaton, Butler and Bayne 1911. Centre, St Michael by Powell & Sons 1919 in St Michael, Highworth. Right, St Margaret by Heaton, Butler and Bayne in St Nicholas, Grafton 1888.

There is a really effective window of St Michael in one of the large, beautiful arched windows of Romsey Abbey (below). The lighting in the alcove made it difficult to get a good photograph of the glass, which is delicately coloured and dynamic with a swirl of feathers and banners as the blue and green streaky dragon gets speared.

St Michael by C.E. Kempe 1897 in Romsey Abbey.

Church Camping

Inside St Cuthbert’s church, Holmes Lacy, Herefordshire.

Church camping, otherwise known as champing, is an initiative by The Churches Conservation Trust where you can book to stay in one of the churches that they care for. We chose to champ in St. Cuthbert’s, Holme Lacy, in a bend on the river Wye near Hereford, a large church with magnificent marble monuments and a notable window by Henry Payne. You can see our sitting room above, half way along the south aisle, and our bedroom in the north aisle in front of a wooden screen and with a great view of the monuments and the aforementioned notable window.

Left: Monument to James Scudamore who died in 1668. Right: Tomb of Sibell and John Scudamore who died in 1571 with Henry Payne window in the background.

You’re not supposed to drag the camp beds around the church, otherwise I would have been tempted to sleep in the chancel with the Scudamores (above). It was fascinating to see these monuments and windows over a whole night and day as the light moved around the space which was light enough in the daytime (with no artificial lighting) and perfectly dark at night. We went to sleep and woke up discussing the mysterious Payne window (below), which shows the Archangel Michael with the scales of judgement, weighing souls.

East window by Henry Payne c.1920 and detail of right hand panel.

Detail of the Henry Payne window showing the weighing of souls.

There are some gorgeous details, particularly the tiny figures in the scales and in the angel’s drapery (above), but the design of the window is confusing. The angels seem to be jostling unnecessarily for space, with great big overlapping wings and behind, rising feet and heads popping up in unexpected places. The main problem is how dark the window appeared, there is a whole bank of trees in the churchyard outside blocking the early morning light.

In the north wall between our bedroom and the chancel is a great example of a medieval fragment window (below). Here you can also find gorgeous details, with heads and hands appearing unexpectedly. As we sat on our chairs in the evening with the light fading all around us, this one still glowed - its patchwork of colours and painted details perfectly illuminated as the stained glass windows along the east and south walls lost their colour to the darkness.

North chancel window made of fragments of medieval glass and detail.