I love looking at stained glass and not all of it in the City is religion-oriented even though it may be located in churches.
So here’s my selection. Some have appeared in previous blogs but I hope you enjoy seeing them again.
I’ll start with one of my favourite places, the Guildhall Art Gallery, where these examples appear at the west end. They all relate to City Livery Companies and were created by Stella Timmins to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The Worshipful Company of Engineers …
The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators …
The Worshipful Company of Gardeners (with Alfred, Lord Tennyson!) …
The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights …
The Worshipful Copany of Environmental Cleaners …
Doctors and nurses who gave their lives in wartime are commemorated in two lovely windows in the church of St Bartholomew the Less.
They were designed by Hugh Easton, following the loss of the earlier windows during World War Two. Easton was an eminent stained glass maker who also designed the Battle of Britain memorial window in Westminster Abbey. The design of the nurse in the window in Westminster Abbey is strikingly similar to that in the window here …
The doctors’ window …
Traditional pub glass in the Lamb Tavern Leadenhall Market …
St Mary Abchurch’s connection with the Fruiterers Company is commemorated by this charming stained glass window …
The Worshipful Company of Glovers of London – True hearts and warm hands at St Margaret Lothbury…
Stained glass windows which date from 1923 at Farringdon Station …
At St Giles Cripplegate there are a number of modern stained glass windows. In the baptistery is the Cripplegate Window, which celebrates the centenary of the Cripplegate Foundation www.cripplegate.org which gives grants, advice and support to local organisations. The Foundation was formally established in 1891 but its origins lie in gifts made to St Giles’ for the poor and the needy dating back centuries. John Sworder made the first recorded gift in his will, dated 2 April 1500, and the head at the top of the window represents him, the first of the pious donors of the parish that we know by name …
On the north wall is a memorial window to Edward Alleyn, the parish’s generous benefactor. The design is the work of John Lawson of stained glass studio Goddard & Gibbs and depicts Alleyn in the centre, as well as the Fortune Theatre (which he founded), almshouses (which he built in the parish and which were destroyed in the Second World War), and St Luke’s Church, Old Street …
At Southwark Cathedral, a few feet from the door, is the magnificent Shakespeare Memorial Window, Designed by Christopher Webb, it was created in 1954 to replace another destroyed in enemy action. It shows characters from the Bard’s plays …
The design uses the concept of the Jesse Tree. Prospero in the central light forms the trunk, with Ariel above and Caliban at his feet …
I’m sure you can spot Falstaff …
In the right hand window we find Lady Macbeth ,,,
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee …
and Hamlet …
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy …
At the base, the last two of the Seven Ages of Man … …
The sixth age slips into the lean and slippered pantaloon, with spectacles on nose … and his big manly voice turning again toward childish treble … Last scene of all, is second childishness … sans teeth, sans eyes sans everything.
All the characters portrayed in the window are identified in this short article.
Since this year is the 300th anniversary of Sir Christopher Wren’s death, I think it’s very appropriate to reproduce this image of the beautiful ‘Wren window’ in St Lawrence Jewry. It was created in 1957 by Christopher Webb …
The great man is flanked by the Master Carver Grinling Gibbons and the Master Mason Edward Strong. Below the three major figures the window shows various craftsmen at work – bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, stonemasons and two of Webb’s own stained glass artists.
And below them are two more modern figures …
Cecil Brown and Reverend Frank Trimingham study the church plan, with the outline of the footprint of the church in front of them. On each side are the beautifully etched towers of many of the Churches Wren built, along with two different views of St Paul’s Cathedral.
And finally an example of the stunning widows designed by the artist and glass maker John David Hayward in St Michael Paternoster Royal on College Hill EC4, where Dick Whittington was buried in 1423.
I’m sure everyone knows the Whittington legend. He had given up on making his fortune in London but, as he headed home with his faithful cat, he heard the bells of St Mary-le-Bow ring out the words:
Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London
Well, the bit about him being Lord Mayor is true, and it was four times rather than three, but two of the terms were consecutive.
Here Hayward shows that critical moment on Highgate Hill …
The church bells of St Mary-le-Bow ring out behind him.
One commentator has said he rather resembles a flat-capped Hoxton Hipster – maybe there is an iPad in that bag.
I love the expression on the cat’s face. Perhaps he has seen a mouse …
You can read more about the legend at the wonderful Purr ‘n’ Fur website.
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