Village news from Helen Price – 6th Feb 2020

Village news from Helen Price – 6th Feb 2020

Published 3 February 2020

Kings Bromley Historians

Richard Stone, a regular guest speaker on local history, came to talk to the Historians group on the subject of Stained Glass at our first meeting of the year. The fourth Century was the earliest that stained glass appeared in England as it was wholly a Christian art form. At that time, the glass was coloured using metal oxide and urine (this today being replaced with oils). The tools used were very simple ones, quills and brushes of various sizes, and have altered little with the passing of time.

The stained glass windows were used to tell a story from the bible or commemorate an event, such as the plague window in Eyam church. They were also commissioned by individuals to celebrate a life or occasion.

Both Winchester and Lincoln Cathedral had their windows smashed during the Civil War but in both cases the local parishioners collected the broken glass that remained and rebuilt them, maybe haphazardly, but with love.

There was a great revival of stained glass in the 19th Century, partly due to the Pre-Raphaelites. Philip Webb the architect and artists such as Rosetti, Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox-Brown, together with artist and entrepreneur William Morris all created beautiful windows.

A popular subject was ‘Labour of the Months” which depicted the twelve seasonal tasks on the land. Many windows in Lichfield Cathedral were created by Charles Kemp 1838-1907, whose ‘signature’ was a wheatsheaf. Wychnor has four beautiful windows of the four seasons. The spires of the Cathedral and the River Trent are shown.

Allan Howard thanked Richard for a very interesting talk which gave us plenty of ideas for a trip planned for later this year. Next month Byron Lewis from Lichfield Garden Centre at Curborough will present a talk on Early Spring Flowers and bring along a variety of plants to see and purchase.