Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

SN2 & 3: Ss Margaret and St Elizabeth.

SN2: St Margaret.

SN3: St Elizabeth.

SN2 & 3: St Margaret and St Elizabeth; Undated.

Posted 04 April 2023.

A double lancet window depicts the standing figures of St Margaret and St Elizabeth, within Bacon's trademark elaborate niches. There are a number of saints with these names, and although direct identification is not entirely certain a couple of clues provide a connection. At Elizabeth's feet is a copper pot and she holds a bunch of roses alluding, perhaps, to the Miracle of the Roses attributed to St Elizabeth of Hungary. By extension it may be surmised that Margaret is St Margaret of Hungary, though it cannot be ruled out that she is, in fact, St Margaret of Scotland who was born in Hungary to an exiled English prince, returning to England in 1057. She holds a book in her left hand and a simple wooden cross in her right.

These windows, like those in the south chancel were likely donated by the Watson family. SN2 is dedicated to the memory of Margaret Henrietta FitzPatrick (d. 1865), daughter of John William Watson and his wife Margaret of Adderstone Hall. SN3 is dedicated to Mary Edwina FitzPatrick (d. 1871), second daughter of the aforementioned John and Margaret.

Neither window is signed, and as with other windows in St Hilda's, the dedicatees were deceased some time before Percy Bacon's firm was set up. However, the attribution to that studio is fairly safe.

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West Window left light: Justice.

West Window, right light: Mercy.

West window left light: The standing figure of Justice.

Posted 12 April 2023.

The west window of two lights and oculus tracery is difficult to see as it is obscured by the large organ. In the left light is the standing figure of Justice who holds a sword and the eponymous scales, beneath which is a depiction of a corporal act of mercy; visit the sick. In the right light is the figure of Mercy attending to little children. Beneath her another act of mercy; feed the hungry. The oculus carries a diminutive nativity scene. West window oculus: Nativity

West Window, left predella: Corporal Act of Mercy - Visit the Sick.

West Window, right predella: Corporal Act of Mercy - Feed the Hungry.

The window is unsigned and undated, but it is likely that it was installed at the same time as the other Bacon windows in St Hilda's in 1902. It is dedicated to the memory of the Right Honourable William George Baron Armstrong of Cragside (d. 1900) and his wife Margaret.

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