Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St Peter & St Paul, Lingfield, Surrey.

St Peter & St Paul Collegiate Church, Lingfield, Surrey.

The Collegiate Church of St Peter & St Paul is best approached from the Old Town along the pretty street lined with Tudor and Georgian buildings, which gradually narrows towards the churchyard gates, drawing one in as the church hoves into view.
The College of Lingfield was founded in 1431 by Sir Reginald Cobham, grandson of the first Lord Cobham of Sterborough, jointly with Anne, his second wife, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Lord Bardolf, and widow of Sir William Clifford. It provided for a provost or master, six chaplains, and certain clerks of the Carthusian order. No vestige of the college remains. The present church which replaced a 12th century building is mostly 14th century, with later additions in the 15th. The layout is rather curious, having a heavily buttressed tower attached to the west end of the south aisle, and a nave and north aisle both of which extend well west of the tower. Nave/chancel and north aisle are of equal proportions prompting Pevsner to wonder if this is an example of a double nave, one collegiate and the other parochial. The large blind arch in the south wall of the tower might suggest that a transept (or transepts) had been planned, but never executed. One enters the church via the west door into the "Miller Room", a curious modern box-like structure creating a sort of vestibule, which rather spoils the splendour of the space. Monuments and brasses to various members of the Cobham family abound, with the mighty tomb of Sir Reginald Cobham (1382-1446) and his second wife, Anne (d. 1454), carved in alabaster unashamedly occupying prime location in the middle of the chancel in front of the altar. Jenkins says mischievously, "On the Day of Judgement there was to be no question which Lingfield resident was first in line for consideration".¹ In the Lady Chapel lies another Cobham, the 1st Lord Cobham (1295-1361). His brightly painted effigy, rather crudely carved in comparison to those of his successors, reclining in prayer with eyes wide open. His feet rest on the reclining figure of a Saracen, who, judging by his weary expression is not best pleased.

St Peter & St Paul, Lingfield, Surrey.
The west end. Note the nave and north aisle extendwell beyond the tower

The west end. Note the nave and north aisle extend
well beyond the tower.

St Peter & St Paul, Lingfield, Surrey.
Nave looking east

St Peter & St Paul, Lingfield, Surrey: Nave looking east

North Aisle: 1913:
Window to commemorate the coronation of King George V in 1911.

St George and the Dragon.

King Alfred the Great.

King Edward the Confessor.

King Edward the Confessor.

Angel Detail.

Angel Detail.

Depiction of Westminster Abbey, founded by King Edward the Confessor.

There is a single window of 1913 by Percy Bacon and Brothers in the north aisle. Sadly this is partially obstructed by the "Miller Room" wall.The window commemorates the Coronation of King George V in 1911, and was presented by Hans Henry Konig, a banker of American/German ancestry who lived at nearby Ardenrun, Blindley Heath. The window was unveiled on 28th June 1913 by Princess Marie-Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who had attended that very coronation. The dedication ceremony led by the Archdeacon of Kingston was attended in person by Percy Bacon.²

The window depicts, St George, King Alfred the Great and King Edward the Confessor. Below St George angels hold a shield on which there is an image of Westminster Cathedral, fittingly added as having been founded by Edward the Confessor, and the place of coronation of Kings and Queens of England. Konig's coat of arms features prominently.

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1. Jenkins, Simon. England's Thousand Best Churches. Penguin Press, 1999.
2. Surrey Mirror; Friday 4th July 1913. p3.