Friends of St Mary's, the Church on the Hill

Stained Glass windows

The West Nativity window

The Friends of the Church on the Hill are currently raising funds for the repair and restoration of our West Window which sadly blew out in a storm in 2018.

This one-light window which stood high up in the tower, was made in 1867 by the well-known Victorian stained glass company of Ward and Hughes.  This firm produced an enormous amount of work in England in the middle of the 19th century including the magnificent East Window in Lincoln Cathedral, as well as other notable works in Norwich and Southwark Cathedrals and in All Saints, Cambridge.  

When Henry Hughes (1822-83) and Thomas Ward (1808-70) became partners in 1861, Hughes brought to the company’s artistic output, a more accurate mediaeval style, which was hugely popular in Victorian time, thereby assuring continued demand for their work.

Our window depicted the Nativity and showed Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus, with the thatched roof stable and a rather surly looking ox in the background.

The Pilgrim window

In the north-west corner of the church there is a tiny but very special stained glass window which we tend to call the 'Pilgrim Window' recognising in it the symbols of a mediaeval pilgrim.  The window, however, depicts St James the Great whose symbol is the scallop shell and whose shrine at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain was in mediaeval times - and indeed still is today - an important place of pilgrimage for Christians.   It is believed that the remains of the saint are buried there and various routes known as Camino de Santiago or the Way of St James lead to the city from all over Europe.

In paintings and stained glass, St James is often depicted as a pilgrim and there are many examples of him as such in English churches.

The mediaeval pilgrim is recognised by the following attributes: staff, scrip [pilgrim pouch], hat, scallop shell (often on the hat) and drinking gourd.  The image in this window shows the attributes of the hat and scallop shell.  It also has the attribute of the staff- astaff which has a prong or hook on it.   This appears in some images of the saint and was for hanging the gourd or the scrip on, although neither of these appear in our window.

The figure also carries a book which St James is sometimes shown as holding representing no doubt, The Word of the Gospel.  Other apostles are also shown with a book or scroll but the book in combination with the staff and scallop shell makes the identification of this window as depicting St James, very persuasive.

with thanks to Michael Mooney of the Confraternity of St James for his thoughts on our window.

The Nativity window

Margaret Edith Rope was born on 29th July 1891 into a farming family in Suffolk. She had many artistic relatives including her uncle, George Thomas Rope, who was a Royal Academician. An aunt and sister were both sculptors and her cousin, Margaret Agnes Rope (known as Marga), was also a stained glass artist.

It is likely she was a friend of Helen Frazer Rock to whom our window is dedicated. They did in fact go to the same school in Wimbledon although Helen was 13 years older than Tor so they were not contemporaries.

Helen Frazer Rock was born in Wimbledon in 1878. She was the daughter of Joseph Rock, an East India Agent and a director of a mining company. From 1904-7 she studied at the Royal Academy Schools where she obtained several prizes. Helen was primarily a sculptor producing glazed pottery figures, often with quite whimsical titles. She was however also a gifted miniature painter and modeller. Among other things, she created porcelain heads for doll, modelled from real children.

Although she mostly used the address of her family residence in Wimbledon, she also had a home at Southend, Northall where we believe she lived with her friend and fellow artist, Kate Elizabeth Olver, in the cottage called ‘Restharrow’.

There is no clear reason why Helen & Kate chose to live in this area, but possibly they were seeking the peace and solitude of the countryside to devote themselves to their art. When Helen died tragically in a road accident in 1932, she was buried in the churchyard at St Mary’s, Edlesborough. Her monument is a fine Celtic cross, decorated with the Celtic Knot, a decorative motif used by the Arts and Craft Movement and also featured in her memorial window.

Kempe window

Left hand panel of the window. In the bottom left corner you can see the wheatsheaf symbol which was Kempe’s signature trademark.

At Edlesborough church we are fortunate to have a window by Charles Eamer Kempe. The window shows St Peter, St Nicholas, the Virgin & Child in a Nativity scene with visiting Kings and William of Waynefleet, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester who founded Magdelen College, Oxford in 1448.

It was made in 1901 and dedicated to Revd Augustus Frederick Birch who died in 1898 and who was vicar of St Mary’s, Edlesborough 1864 -1881. It was during his time that the 1867 restoration of the church took place. The window was given by scholars and friends of Eton College where he had been a tutor prior to his appointment here. One of his old pupils was in fact Lord Brownlow who held the gift of the living of Edlesborough so probably Brownlow paid for much of it. Guillaume Waneflet who is mentioned in the window was an early provost of Eton and one of the houses at Eton is named after him.  

Charles Eamer Kempe set up his own highly successful firm in 1866, C.E. Kempe & Co.  He insisted that the members of the studio should remain anonymous, and that only the firm's name should be credited. The firm perfected the use of silver stain on clear glass which leaves a yellow tint.   

In the lower left hand corner of the window is a small golden wheatsheaf, which was  Kempe’s trademark, taken from his personal coat of arms.

Explanation by John Hockey of Kempe’s wheatsheaf:

KEMPE’S WHEATSHEAF

In the lower left hand corner of a stained glass window on the south wall of St Mary’s church, Edlesborough, there is a small golden wheatsheaf or ‘garb’ tucked away almost out of view. This was the trademark of Victorian stained glass designer Charles Eamer* Kempe (1837 – 1907). Many craftsmen chose a symbol that had some meaning to them as their signature and in this case, the wheatsheaf was taken directly from Kempe’s personal coat of arms.

Heraldic descriptions can seem complicated but they’re not really. The full blazon or description of Kempe’s shield from which the wheatsheaf is taken is as follows:

Gules, three garbs Or, on a bordure engrailed of the second, eight hurts. i.e. the background is red (Gules), the wheatsheafs are golden (Or) and on a spiky (engrailed) gold border  there are eight blue roundels (hurts). So the inconspicuous wheatsheaf relates directly to his own shield and is intimately linked to his family’s status and his place in society – a very personal signature.

You may sometimes see a black tower accompanying the golden wheatsheaf and this relates to Walter Towers who was a cousin of Kempe and became chairman of the company of C E Kempe & Co., after Charles’ death in 1907.

Right hand panel of the window with dedication in Latin to Revd Birch. Translation of the Latin text:

“Remember in your prayers the Reverend Augustus Frederick Birch once a member of King’s College, Cambridge and then an assistant master at Eton School. He was later in post at this church and afterwards at the church in Northchurch in the county of Hertfordshire. He died on the 20th of July in 1898. His grieving pupils and friends set this window in place.” (Translation: Terry Carter)