Stained Glass of Percy Bacon

Posted 12 January 2023.

The small, simple church St Mark's, Hadlow Down. we see today was largely rebuilt by George Fellowes-Prynne in 1912/13, the original church dating from 1836 having fallen into decay. Pevsner says little, but does rhetorically ask how much of the earlier church Fellowes-Prynne actually preserved. Lady chapel altar paintings are by George's brother, Edward, and two of the stained glass windows are attributed to Percy Bacon & Brothers.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Left light detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Right light detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Centre light detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Centre light detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Left light saint detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing little children, circa 1913. Right light saint detail.

Baptistery: Christ blessing children.

The small three-light, square-headed window in the baptistery at the west end of the north aisle was almost certainly installed as part of the 1913 rebuild of St Mark's. Percy Bacon was George Fellowes-Prynne's stained glass artist of choice, and although the window is unsigned, and no definitive corroboration has yet come to light, the attribution is fairly safe.

The window depicts Matthew 19: 13-14: a seated Christ blessing children, one child sitting on his knee, and two chaperoned by their mothers, while two of his disciples look on. On a scroll crossing all three lights; "Suffer little children to come unto me". The window is dedicated to Martin Maffey († 1909).

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East window; Madonna and child surrounded by angels in adoration.

East window; Left light detail.

East window; Right light detail.

East window; Centre light detail. A similar cartoon for the Mother and Child

Central light of the north chapel east window in St Andrew's, Boscombe, Dorset, which uses a very similar cartoon to that in St Mark's of the Mother and Child with attendant angels holding the drape behind the figures. with attendant angels was used for the 1910 north chapel east window in St Andrews, Boscombe, Dorset. Click link above to view.

East window: Madonna & Child surrounded by angels.

The exact date of execution of this window is uncertain as the attribution is from the British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP) directory of 1930.¹ If as late as this it would have been executed by Percy Bacon Limited.

The window is of three lights with tracery, the central light depicting the Madonna and child, and the outer lights groups of adoring angels, the two lower one swinging censers on long chains. Above and behind the mother, three angels hold the drape behind her, and beneath her a scroll which reads, "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis". A similar cartoon of the mother and child with attendant angels was used for the central light of the north chapel east window in St Andrew's Boscombe, Dorset. The window is not very large, so the usual wide columns and elaborate niches have been omitted. In the tracery, a white dove symbolises the holy spirit descending, with the smaller lights hosting cherubs and IHC and XPC monograms.

There is no dedication and the window is unsigned.

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1. See Stained Glass Records website entry for Hadlow Down.