Castle Acre Priory

Disembodied head by Sasha Ward

Purple man from ‘These People Are Intellectuals…’  Left, in progress.  Right, in the exhibition at Norwich Cathedral

Purple man from ‘These People Are Intellectuals…’ Left, in progress. Right, in the exhibition at Norwich Cathedral

Purple man’s disembodied head was an unplanned addition to our exhibition at The Hostry, Norwich Cathedral. When making the stained glass panel ‘These People are Intellectuals, They Live in Houses Full of Books and Have Nothing Worth Stealing’ (described in a previous blog post) purple man ended up with two alternative heads. I did a second one (on the left in the photos above) out of the same piece of flashed streaky purple glass because I thought I’d sandblasted too much of the purple layer off on the first head. However head number one turned out to be the best one, so head number two ended up on its own stand in the display case alongside an explanation of how the window was made.

St Margaret, Stratton Strawless  Left, the south aisle. Right, north window containing medieval glass.

St Margaret, Stratton Strawless Left, the south aisle. Right, north window containing medieval glass.

When you start looking at old stained glass in churches you get used to seeing disembodied heads. These are pieces of medieval stained glass that have survived breakages or the releading of windows and find themselves either part of another picture or out on their own. We made a trip to the village of Stratton Strawless, just north of Norwich, to see a perfect example of fifteenth century Norwich glass painting in the angel head which has been set into a clear glass window (above and below). Miraculously the church was not locked and it is full of stupendous monuments and second hand books as well as the angel head which seems so beautifully done now that I’ve started painting heads myself.

Stratton Strawless, the C15th angel head.

Stratton Strawless, the C15th angel head.

Stratton Strawless, glass in the windows of the south aisle.

Stratton Strawless, glass in the windows of the south aisle.

Set into the windows of the south aisle are a collection of other glass fragments, including the heads of a bishop, a king with a fascinating web of lead lines where he has broken and a strange head which is all beard and no hair (above right). All of the other churches we drove to were locked, so thank goodness for a visit to Castle Acre Priory. Here were windows and arches, carved patterns and lines and among them just a few carved heads (below).

Stone heads from Castle Acre Priory.

Stone heads from Castle Acre Priory.

Arches by Sasha Ward

Left, Version 4, glass panel 270mm square. Right, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery - currently closed.

Left, Version 4, glass panel 270mm square. Right, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery - currently closed.

I was working on a series of painted glass panels called Theme and Variations while planning our exhibition at Norwich Cathedral. It was only when I looked back at this photo of the castle (above right) that I saw the connection to the rows of arches in my series, even down to the inverted concrete arch of the horrendous glass lift exit in front of it. So I added the castellations to the top of the last in the series (above left) in the hope that a local visitor to the exhibition may notice the link.

Left, Norwich - from Castle Meadow to the Royal Arcade. Right, Stained glass inside the arcade.

Left, Norwich - from Castle Meadow to the Royal Arcade. Right, Stained glass inside the arcade.

Most of the buildings in Norwich I’d earmarked to visit to see the best examples of old stained glass were closed. With covid restrictions in place, the city felt like a half empty stage set so I wandered around and found interesting architectural details everywhere. The rounded arch, filled with fresh floral stained glass, made another appearance in the Royal Arcade (above).

Left, King’s Lynn - the locked doors of St Nicholas’ Chapel. Right, beside the locked doors of King’s Lynn Minster

Left, King’s Lynn - the locked doors of St Nicholas’ Chapel. Right, beside the locked doors of King’s Lynn Minster

By the time we got to King’s Lynn and found that absolutely every building that wasn’t a shop, cafe or pub was shut, we had begun to get fed up, despite the beautiful locked doors and interesting architectural features - more arches on top of arches.

An outdoor visit saved the day. Nearby are the ruins of Castle Acre Priory, a Cluniac monastery from around 1089 to its dissolution in 1537, with the most magnificent set of arches you could hope to see (below). The enormous west front has a solid base of round arches around the original west door, and a large pointed mid 15th century window inserted above. Wonderful to see the combination of the two types of arches combined in the elaborate architectural detail and to find inspiration on how to take my painted series forward.

The West Front of Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk.

The West Front of Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk.