Stained Glass of Percy Bacon

Northamptonshire

Posted 13 October 2022.

All Saints in Northampton is a rare example in England outside London of a new church built during the 17th century, and is said to be one of the finest examples. It replaced an earlier church, All Hallows, which was burnt to the ground along with much of the old town in the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675. After the fire a parliamentary commission was formed to oversee the rebuilding of the town and its church. Despite Northampton having been a parliamentary town during the English Civil War, the Earl of Northampton persuaded his friend, King Charles II to contribute towards the rebuilding. He obliged by supplying 1000 tons of wood from the Royal Forests of Rockingham and Salcey, and for seven years waiving the chimney tax in the town. A statue of King Charles II by John Hunt erected in 1712 still stands above the church portico in recognition of his contribution.

The present building designed by Henry Bell of Kings Lynn was erected in 1680 over the foundations of the larger original church whose crypt and tower were the only survivors of the fire. It is classically English Baroque in style and not unlike many churches built in London during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It has an unusual colonnaded portico at the west end spanning almost the full width of the nave and aisles which is said to have been copied from that at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The interior is opulent and richly adorned with stucco and painted ceilings. Fluted, painted columns with gilded capitals hold the chancel arch, and the full height reredos incorporate more columns seeming to hold up the pediment. Sunbursts and gilding is everywhere. The central dome. is held in place by four enormous ionic columns and there are galleries (a later addition) above both aisles.

The lady chapel which houses the single Percy Bacon window in All saints was built onto the south side of the chancel in 1920 as a chapel of remembrance.

 

The single Percy Bacon window in All saints was installed in the east wall of the Lady Chapel in 1928 as a memorial to those who gave their lives in the first world war. It depicts the central figure of Christ Consoler with St George (patron saint of the army) representing triumph, St Nicholas (patron saint of the Navy) holding a ship, St Michael who holds a flaming sword ( a typical Bacon motif) and St Luke (patron saint of physicians) who holds a flaming torch around which two snakes are entwined. In his left hand, Michael holds the scales of justice upon which the half naked souls of the saved and the damned are being weighed. The scale of justice; Souls being weighed. The latter is a horned man holding a hay fork, and the former a figure kneeling in prayer, representing the damned and the saved.

The window was dedicated to the memory of Amy Saunders and given by Miss Hinton, who had a school in Northampton¹.

The window is signed bottom left, "Percy Bacon London".

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1. Report of the proposed window Northampton Chronicle and Echo - Saturday 08 September 1928 , p1