Left: Whole window. Right: Lower two panels of the two right-hand windows.
West window of St Peter's Church, Hersham, Surrey, by Clayton & Bell. 1887 (see Eberhard). The four lights of the west window show many different saints and prophets. For example, on the left of the right-hand picture can be seen St John and St Polycarp (the latter with the flames miraculously arcing around him instead of burning him) above St Paul and St Stephen; and on the right, next to them, can be seen St Augustine and St Gregory above St Jerome and St Ambrose. The interest is in the detail: for example, a dove flies towards St Gregory's mouth, recalling the legend that Pope St Gregory's homilies were inspired in this way by the Holy Spirit. Similarly, St Ambrose stands just in front of a beehive: his words were said to be as sweet as honey, and he himself compared the church to a beehive and Christians to the industrious bees devoted to it (see Ferguson 12). It is easy to see how useful such windows would be as teaching aids.
Photographs, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. Click on the images to enlarge them and see the details.
Related Material
- St Peter's, Hersham, Surrey (by J. L. Pearson)
- East window of St Peter's
- North aisle (1) window of St Peter's (Raising of Lazarus)
- North aisle (2) window of St Peter's (Miraculous draught of fishes)
- North transept east of St Peter's (Jesus with St Peter)
- South aisle (1) of St Peter's (St Peter cures the crippled man)
- South aisle (2) of St Peter's (St Peter's denial of Christ)
Reference
Eberhard, Robert."Stained Glass Windows at St Peter, Hersham, Surrey." Church Stained Glass Windows. Web. 8 July 2014.
Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
Last modified 8 July 2014