Three Small windows

St Margaret, St Margaret’s, Herefordshire.

The last church we visited on our trip to Hereford and back was St Margaret’s, the name of both the village and the church, which is in a field high up with a view of the Golden Valley to the east (above). It’s a beautiful spot, the small church is notable for its carved oak screen which is also a loft (below), a rare survivor from the Tudor period. Beyond the screen is a low chancel with more of the painted biblical texts on the walls and a wonderfully detailed east window by Archibald Davies, otherwise known as A.J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild.

St Margaret’s, Herefordshire, looking through the tudor screen.

The chancel, St Margaret’s with east window by A.J. Davies 1926

The window fits perfectly with the other features in the church in terms of its colouring, its size and its scale of detail with an oak leaf border that echoes the screen. It’s so satisfying to see this sort of harmony in a church interior - the wonderful details you find on closer inspection (below) are an added bonus.

Details from the A.J. Davies window that shows a scene from the life of St Margaret.

This window was the third I had seen on this trip where a low decorated chancel was beautifully complemented by a small east stained glass window. The other two were in Gloucestershire churches, both with a series of Norman arches carved with zig zags. At St John, Elkstone (below) zigzags also arch over the virgin and child window by Henry Payne who taught A.J. Davies at Birmingham School of Art.

The chancel, St John, Elkstone, Gloucestershire.

The features of this beautiful chancel are the vaulted arches with dragons’ heads where they meet and the amazing yellow light that fills the space through the south windows. The stained glass window is simple and fits in as well as an ancient one would. I always admire Payne’s flower details, here the floral border seems to nod to the Norman carving with the flowers contained by diamonds and separated by a string of circles.

Elkstone: left, looking through the norman arches: right, east window by Henry Payne 1929.

Kempley: left looking through the Norman arch: right, east window by C.E. Kempe 1876.

I found the most remarkable combination of stained glass and church decoration to be at St Mary, Kempley, a church that is famous for its Romanesque wall paintings. The paintings start in the nave and above the arch as you can see in the photo above left, then past the checked pattern under the arch to a low vaulted chancel. Once inside you are surrounded by a background of strong, earthy colours and the pale silhouettes of patterns and figures as the walls and ceiling are completely covered with frescoes that were painted around 1130 then covered over between the Reformation and the 1870s. The small east window by C.E. Kempe (above right) is in his familiar style but really looks at home here with a similar balance of pale silver stained figures against a dark red background, silhouetted by the light.

The chancel, St Mary, Kempley, Gloucestershire.

I was reminded of how much I value a small window, as opposed to metres of glazing. And how refreshing it is in a church to progress to a small, intimate space which, in all three cases, has a truly divine atmosphere.

St Mary, Kempley - no hint of what’s inside but a fabulously pink wall.

Some Cotswold Churches

St. Michael and St. Martin’s Church, Eastleach Martin: west window.

On the signpost opposite the church of St. Michael and St Martin (above left) are all the villages that we visited on this walk in Gloucestershire, just north of Lechlade as the signpost says. There are two churches at Eastleach with a river running between them, they are both lovely from the outside and the inside. As is usual for churches in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust, the only not so tasteful thing in the building is the sign that tells you about the Trust at the west end of the church (above right). In most of the windows the only colour is a yellow border strip, some have fragments of medieval glass in them and how exciting this seems in the face of all this plainness (below).

Eastleach Martin: looking east and medieval glass fragments in chancel.

St. Andrew’s Church, Eastleach Turville: looking west.

St Andrew’s Church across the river is even simpler and plainer despite being in use for services, with a beautiful bible out on a lectern. The windows are filled with diamonds or squares, some with spectacular mends that link with the branches outside (below).

Eastleach Turville, east window and south nave window.

St. Nicholas Church, Hatherop, south chapel.

A short walk across to Hatherop, another church with a saddleback tower and a calm, uncluttered interior. The south chapel (above right), its windows filled in with white plastic sheet, is particularly lovely. It was built as a mortuary in 1855 by the architect Henry Clutton with the assistance of William Burges and is filled with rich carving. There is also a beautiful marble monument to Barbara, Lady Mauley who died in 1844, an angel at her feet and another at her head (below).

Marble monument by Raffaelle Monti to Barbara, Lady de Mauley.

St Peter’s Church, Southrop: east and west windows with bits of colour and detail.

The last church was at Southrop, equally clean, coordinated and simple (above), and honestly by now I could hardly remember which interior went with which church.

When church visiting I’ve started imagining that if I lived nearby, would I look forward to attending a service in that church. Some have the wrong sort of atmosphere for me, like a damp guesthouse, and I walk straight out, it’s a good way of assessing what I want from a church interior. On that basis, this group of Cotswolds churches, although superb in terms of interior decoration, are a bit austere for me, not giving enough in terms of colour or meaning.

Stained Glass Inscriptions

Whenever I see beautiful lettering decorating the walls of a church I think what a good idea it is to use meaningful texts to embellish a church interior. The inscriptions on stained glass windows however, are rarely as interesting to me, usually being an account of who commissioned the window and when they died placed in a predella type panel at the bottom.

Left: St Winifred’s Church, Manaton, Devon. Detail of window by Frank Brangwyn 1927 Right: St Andrew’s Church, Cullompton, Devon. Detail of window by GER Smith c 1950

Some examples from twentieth century windows seen on recent church visits (above and below) show a variety of lettering style with borders and backgrounds, and a tendency to run the sentences across the two or three lights in each window so it is hard to make sense of the narrative. I prefer the inscription, light on a dark ground, by Robert Anning Bell (below left) where you read a complete sentence in one pane and find out when the person commemorated was born.

Left: St Paul de Leon Church, Paul, Cornwall. Detail of window by Robert Anning Bell 1917 Right: St.Matthew’s Church, Midgham, Berkshire. Detail of window by Francis Skeat 1955

St Margaret’s Church, Knook, Wiltshire. East windows by Alexander Gibbs 1874.

This wall of windows (above) in a tiny church restored by William Butterfield in 1874 with windows made by Alexander Gibbs, shows how far apart the parts of the sentence can be, with Lady Heytesbury’s name split either side of the altar. The lettering, in rows separated by bars of red glass, is truly a part of the design, colourful and legible from a distance.

At Heytesbury in the same parish is the large church of St Peter and St Paul, also restored by William Butterfield with windows made to his designs by Gibbs. Here, the panel of text is truly spectacular (below) in departure board style, with triple rows of coloured glass between the lines of white and yellow writing.

St Peter and Paul Church, Heytesbury, Wiltshire. Detail of north window by Alexander Gibbs, 1867

The arrangement of these stripes of writing, taking up vertical space in one narrow window light, reminded me of the one in St Nicholas, East Grafton (below). Here there are coloured bands at the bottom of the panel and patterns at the top, the script is surprisingly easy to read and the message is meaningful as well as decorative.

St Nicholas Church, East Grafton, Wiltshire. Detail of East window by Heaton, Butler and Baine 1888.

Churches on the Edge of the Cotswolds

I’m providing a map so you know which area - mostly in the Braydon Brook Benefice - to avoid if you want to get inside a church sometime soon. This is north Wiltshire, where we started at Holy Cross in Ashton Keynes, I’d been inside this church before so it was not too upsetting to find it locked.

All the churches (marked with a red cross on the map) are in well kept churchyards in lovely villages but they were all locked apart from Holy Cross, Hankerton which was being used as a polling station for the very poorly attended election of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Here a massive fourteenth century tower (below) is topped by the mocking heads of gargoyles (reflecting today’s mood).

Tower of The Church of the Holy Cross, Hankerton

All Saints, Oaksey from the outside.

The grandest church was the one at Oaksey (above) with tantalising glimpses of the interior through large plain windows on the south side through to some wonderful looking medieval glass and extensive wall painting. Mounted on the north wall and facing the street, is the carved fertility symbol of Sheila-na-Gig (above left). The church is normally open on summer Saturdays so I’ll be back.

More frustration at the locked church of St John the Baptist in Charlton. However, looking at stained glass from the outside can be fascinating and I found a fantastic leading pattern in a small window (below left) that left me wondering about the painting on the inside of the glass. Also noted was a tiny porch window (below right) with a bar and the appearance of an hourglass.

St John the Baptist, Charlton from the outside.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the entrance porch in the churchyard with a gorgeous view (below) at Minety looked welcoming - of course it was locked too. Thursday afternoons are obviously not a good day to go on an unplanned church crawl on the edge of the Cotswolds.

St Leonard, Minety

The Joy of Visiting Unlit Churches

North wall of St Peter Everleigh. Built in 1813 in the Gothic style and on an iron frame, with monument to Francis Dugdale Astley Esq. founder and donor of this church.

My trips to churches in the past few years have been generally unplanned, I stop if I pass one that looks as if it may be open and has an easy place to park outside. I had noticed that some of the loveliest, most uncluttered ones I visited were in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust whose website is up to date with current visitor opening times - no need to book!! - so we set off to see a couple of CCT churches near us in Wiltshire.

St Peter Everleigh. Left: East window, Right: South wall of the nave.

The interior of Everleigh church contains nothing ugly apart from those unevenly spaced wall lights on the north wall (top photo). There are wall monuments from the previous church in the village between tall windows with orange borders and a greenish glow from the trees pressing against them outside.

The glass in the east window by W.T. Cleobury is full of beautifully painted detail. I particularly like the mother and child panel (below left), the gaze and the hands of the shepherds point at them from one side and the three kings from the other. The best hand painting I have noticed from a stained glass firm I had never heard of, which is a perfect example of the surprises you get when you use your eyes rather than a guide book.

Everleigh, details of the east window by W.T. Cleobury 1873.

St Mary, Chute Forest. Left: entrance porch, Right: west window by Jones and Willis 1921.

St Mary, Chute Forest, is tucked away in an overgrown churchyard, again with nothing ugly inside or out. It was designed by J.L. Pearson and built in 1875 of brick and flint. The interior, with no electric lighting that we could find, had a perfectly Victorian atmosphere and perfect conditions for stained glass viewing on a drizzly day. The WWI memorial west window is moody, nicely painted and eccentrically repaired at bottom left with gold coloured glass (above right).

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Chute Forest, Left: carved reredos in front of east window by Clayton and Bell, Right: window detail.

The east window is a lovely one, made by Clayton and Bell in 1875. The background to all the little scenes showing the life of Christ is covered in a web of sgraffito flowers which looks great against the familiar patterns of brick, tile and architectural ornament. You can find the same patterns and shapes in the church itself - the example below shows a lantern in the top of the left hand window and, in front of one of the deep window recesses, a lantern that reflects the colours of the stained glass.

Chite Forest, Left: top of the left hand window, Right: lantern with stained glass reflection.