West window by George Heywood Sumner at St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, in Essex, c. 1904. Sumner's original series of six two-light windows for the nave here were blown out during World War II; this one too was damaged, but restored afterwards (see Bettley and Pevsner 431; Powell). It shows a red heart at the centre with shafts of golden light radiating out through the blue of the sky to heart-shaped tracery. Here are shown Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or their symbols, punctuated by vines bearing purple grapes, and, on the very circumference, red roses — the heart, grapes and roses being very much in keeping with the church's interior decoration. Sumner, like the architect Charles Harrison Townsend and the designer of the interior, William Reynolds-Stephens, was a member of the Art-Worker's Guild and deeply involved with the Arts and Crafts movement of the time. He also collaborated with Townsend at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, just around this time, and that work too included designing a very fine west window — a wheel window with twelve angels around the Lamb of God — as well as the scgraffito work for which he is better known (see Greenacombe). So here was another multi-talented craftsman/artist like Reynolds-Stephens himself.
Photograph by John Salmon, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use this image 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 or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Related Material
- St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, I: Exterior
- St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, II: Interior
- St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley, III: Fixtures and Fittings
- Praise Him in the Height and O Praise the Lord of Heaven, a pair of other windows in the church, to Sumner's designs
- South Chapel window by Morris & Co. to designs by Edward Burne-Jones
Bibliography
Bettley, James, and Nikolaus Pevsner. Essex. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007.
"Church History." St Mary the Virgin, Great Warley. Web. 24 June 2015.
Greenacombe, John, ed. "Princes Gate and Ennismore Gardens: The Kingston House Estate, Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Ennismore Gardens (formerly All Saints' Church)." Survey of London: Volume 45, Knightsbridge ed. London, 2000: 186-190. British Hisotruy Online. Web. 24 June 2015.
Powell, W. R., ed. "Great Warley." In A History of the County of Essex, Volume 7. London, 1978. 163-74. British History Online. Web. 24 June 2015.
Last modified 24 June 2015