Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Braunton, St Brannock

Devon

Braunton is the type of town which one does not go to, but goes through, probably on the way to the nearby beaches along the north Devon coast. However, if one cares to linger a while, St Brannock's church is well worth a visit. From the outside, the massive tower (with its rather odd broach spire) gives away the church's 12th century pedigree, as do the deeply splayed windows inside, though the majority was built (or rebuilt) in the 13th century. Curiously for a medieval church there are no aisles, and as the tower is offset to the south, the viewer standing in the middle of the wide nave is able to see both the east and west windows unimpeded. Both are by Percy Bacon and Brothers, and both were installed in 1909. They follow the same general layout with standing figures of individual saints, described below.

Posted 08 February 2025.

The west window is huge, of 14 lights in two rows of 7, separated by a transom, and complex tracery above. The layout of the window lends itself to a grand display of saints rather than narrative scenes. The church guide states that the glass in the west window once told the story of St Brannock, but this was vandalised by Protestant reformers in the 17th century.

Central to the upper tier of lights is the figure of Christ enthroned flanked by (left to right), Ss Matthew, Peter, Mary (BV), John, Paul, and Mark.

In the lower tier (left to right) Old Testament figures; (left to right); Isaiah, Aaron, King David, Moses, King Solomon, Samuel, and Jeremiah.

Colours are muted and there is a significant amount of white glass. In fact the use of coloured glass is very restrained. In the tracery Alpha and Omega symbols, and angels playing instruments, and singing from hymn books.

The window was unveiled and dedicated by the Bishop of Exeter on 1^st February 1909.¹

The window is unsigned, and does not carry a dedication or inscription. It was paid from parishioners' and friends' subscriptions.²

Back to top

Posted 08 February 2025.

On the same day the west window was dedicated by the Bishop of Exeter, a Mr James Gifford, of Chard, is reported to have made a decision to fund a similar window in the east of the church.³ This must have been a swift turnaround for the Bacon Studios, as a little less than two months would elapse between the unveiling of the west window and the dedication of the east by the Bishop of Crediton on 25th April 1909.⁴

The window, of four lights and tracery, depicts the standing figures of eight saints; Anne, Brannock, John the Evangelist, Sylvester, Michael, Berwyn, George and Peter. The dedication in the form of a personalised message, reads:

Unusually two of the saints portrayed - John and Peter - are replicated in the west window. Above each saint a scroll:

Michael: "Rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell therein."
Berwyn: "The Lord foresaketh not his saints."
George: "Fight the good fight of faith."
Peter: "Feed my Lambs."
Mary: "Honour thy father and thy mother."
Brannock: "Come into all the world and preach the Gospel."
John: "Little children love one another."
Sylvester: "I give thee charge in the sight of God."

The window is very much in keeping with that at the west end, having muted colouration and extensive areas of white glass. The inclusion of two local saints must have pleased the congregation at Braunton, but it has to be said both are rather obscure. Some accounts conflate St Brannock with Brynach or Brychan, a welsh saint who settled in Cornwall. The Rev Charles Boase of Exeter College, Oxford, quoting Rees⁵ makes Berwyn the son of Brychan. It is said that the body of St Brannock is buried under the altar at his eponymous church in Braunton. The tonsured figure of St Brannock in Bacon's window is holding a book on which stands a diminutive ox. This, and the ruined church which St Michael holds may refer to the story of St Brannock founding a church on the hill overlooking Braunton. However, this building collapsed, and in a dream Brannock was told to look for a sow and seven piglets. This would guide him to the site for his new church. Who knows? Myth is more entertaining than the truth!

The window is signed; "PERCY BACON BR^OS 11 NEWMAN STREET LONDON W.

Back to top

Posted 08 February 2025.

In 1911, the Bacon Studios would return to Braunton to execute the two light window in the south chapel at St Brannock's. The subjects are St Banabas and Nathaniel. Above each standing figure the scrolls read:

Barnabas: "For he was a goog man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith."
Nathaniel: Behold and Israelite indeed whom is no guile." (John 1:47).

The window is dedicated to Samuel Gillespie Prout, an artist and a notable son of the artist Samuel Prout. The inscription reads:

The face of St Barnabas has a striking resemblence to a portrait of Vaughan Palmer Davies, the father of Percy Bacon's wife, Claire, whom he married in 1906. It is very possible that Vaughan Davies was the model for this particular portrait of St Barnabas. Click the image to start a slide show which includes a comparison of the two portraits.

The window is unsigned.

Back to top

References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

1. Western Times, Friday 05 February 1909 p11 (with image).
2. North Devon Journal, 29 April 1909, p2.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Smith, W. et al (Eds), A Dictionary of Christian Biography, 1877, p317. After Rees, W. J. Lives of the Cambro British Saints. 1853.