Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St Peter & St Paul, Watlington, Norfolk.

Coddenham, St Mary's from the north east.

Coddenham, St Mary's with it's curiously angled porch which is aligned with the village high street.

Coddenham, St Mary's; Details of the flushwork panelling on the clearstory (north east end), from The Parish Churches of England 1954 by Cox, J Charles; p107.

St Mary's Coddenham.

St Mary's does not appear in Simon Jenkins' list of England's Thousand Best Churches. Quite why is moot, but it probably should have been, even if just to mention the curious north porch angled to be aligned with the village main street, the spectacular clearstory. the offset tower, its elongated chancel or the carved wooden angels looking down from the double hammerbeam nave roof.

The church built of flint and stone has norman origins but the edifice we see today is mostly 15th and 16th century work. Restorations were carried out in 1886 (under E F Bisshopp of Ipswich) and again in 1893-1899 by the well known Anglo-Catholic Priest/Architect Rev. Ernest Geldart rector of Little Braxted, Essex. Geldart designed the chancel's barrel ceiling and flooring and replaced the old vestry with a new one adding an organ chamber. He also designed the stained glass for the east window and the reredos of oak and alabaster, both of which were executed by Percy Bacon and Brothers.¹ The rerdos were dismantled at some stage and as of February 2022 have been replaced with an impromptu curtain hung from a rather tatty wooden frame.

Posted 03 Mar 2022.

Coddenham St Mary: East Window by Percy Bacon and Brothers from design by Ernest Geldart.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Adoration of the shepherds.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Nativity scene.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Adoration of the Magi.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Tracery detail: Annunciation scene.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Tracery detail: Annunciation scene.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Tracery detail: Lily.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Tracery detail: Pierced heart.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Detail of the background townscape behind the Magi.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Detail of the background townscape behind the shepherds.

Coddenham, St Mary's: East window: Detail.

Three Bees Rebus.

The east window 1895, design by Ernest Geldart

The east window installed in c1895 was designed by the prolific priest and architect, Rev Ernest Geldart, and executed by Percy Bacon and Brothers. Bacon worked on many projects with Geldart, especially in East Anglia. The theme of the window is The Nativity, and the Adoration of the Magi and Shepherds. In the tracery are images of the sun and moon and a pierced heart representing the sacrifice of Christ, and above an annunciation scene ("Ave Maria", "Ecce ancilla Dni") the diminutive figures of Gabriel and The Virign Mary within their own chequered floored niches. A the top, a lily.

Unfortunately the base of the window is obscured by the curtain installed as a replacement for the dismantled reredos which were also executed by Bacon to Ernest Geldart's designs in 1899. The base of the window is, in fact made up of regular diamond quarries. It is unclear whether these were installed at the same time as the stained glass, as this portion of the window would have been covered by the reredos in any case, or whether they replace an extension to the scenes in the extant window. However, viewed from the outside it looks like the latter is more likely due to the mismatch.

This window is a very good example of the dedication of the glass painter. The detail in the main lights is exquisite; the background townscapes or the angel's feathers and the intricate canopy work. Each window tells its own story, each scene placed on a pedestal with wide columns and canopies as framing devices, as if the figures are on stage. The window is signed with the Percy Bacon & Brothers "three busy bees" rebus, though this is obscured by the curtain.

In 1898 Percy Bacon & Brothers returned to the church to install the Geldart designed oak and alabaster reredos, the gift of Mr. Harry Wyles.² The Building News described them thus;

"The subjects represented are—on the left the three Mary's at the tomb, and on the right the descent of our Blessed Lord from the Cross. Iron cranes with curtains hanging there from are fixed on either side".³

Bishop David Thomson's in his blog publishes an image of a polychrome alabaster panel depicting the crucifixion which (he speculates without attribution) may have been part of a multi-panel 15th century reredos.

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1. Report on the installation of the reredos; The Building News and Engineering Journal, Vol 76 10 Feb 1899, p220.
2. The Builder's Journal and Architectural Engineer, 28 Dec 1898, p334.
3. Ibid (1): See also The Guardian 1 Feb 1899.
4. See also The Builder 1899-01-14: Vol 76 Iss 2919, p50.