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Stained Glass: Essays

The Stained Glass of St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire
Page 1

This essay appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of "The Lincolnshire Poacher" published by County Life Ltd.

The east window of St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire

Fig 1: The East Window
Zoom in using the mouse wheel. Click and drag ro explore
the window.

On visiting St Martin’s Church in Stamford sometime in 2019, I was pleased to see that the church had provided a simple trifold leaflet on plain paper with some history and descriptive detail of the stained glass, which I procured for the meagre sum of twenty pence. This, though rudely printed and rather clumsily photocopied was a rare gem, as church guides often neglect to provide information about the windows. The leaflet described the provenance of the glass and explained the attributions of the many armorial shields scattered liberally around the church, particularly in the east window. The leaflet having languished on my bookshelf for more than a year, and finding myself briefly lacking any professional work during yet another COVID-19 lockdown, I discovered an abundance of spare time on my hands. In early February 2021 I had chance to come across an image of the east window in St Martin’s on the internet, which reminded me of that visit in 2019 and piqued my interest. Unfortunately, on that visit I had not taken any photographs of the glass so had nothing to refer to other than the image I had found. Surprisingly, even the CVMA website had no images of the glass in St Martin’s. However, I did remember retaining the leaflet so enabling me to make some enquiries into the details of the windows in advance of a further visit to obtain some better images (COVID pandemics permitting). The research I have undertaken is likely to be well known to some, but I have not found any comprehensive descriptions of the glass in any one document. It is hoped in attempting such a project, that the original church guide might be improved upon, some inaccuracies corrected, as well as providing the reader with source references for further study. I revisited the church in May 2021 after the lockdown restrictions had been eased, and the photographs in this article are from that visit.

The history of the glass

In studying the history of the glass, it is impossible not to become caught up in the history of the local families, particularly the Cecil family, the other benefactors of the church whose armorial shields adorn the windows, and the intrigue surrounding its procurement. The church guide (CG)1 states without citation that all of the “painted glass” in St Martin’s was removed in 1737, but we are none the wiser as to the reasons for its removal, what type of glass it was, where it ended up, or what was inserted in its place in the intervening years before the reglazing of 1759 when the Tattershall glass was installed. Harrod2 (after Francis Peck) provides some pen and ink illustrations of the glass which was still in the church in 1722. As well as a number of coats of arms, a great many of which can still be seen in St Martins, there are images of two kings, possibly in conversation, possibly in combat; a king with four standing figures and one figure prone holding two tau crosses (possibly for the Priory of Sempringham) – Fig. 2. Another illustration (Fig. 3) depicts, in the top panels, men holding the arms of Russell of Strensham (Gloucestershire)3 and Left: John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln 1480 – 1494 who was thought to have been one of the primary benefactors of the church’s rebuilding in circa 1482.   Below these arms is the curious figure of a winged devil making off with a church tower, the steeple in its mouth, and alongside with the very same tower an illustration of a still intact church. These figures are no longer in the east window, but the top two armorial shields held by figures can be found in the lower panels of the window in the south aisle (SA1). The John Russell arms held by a figure now in the top of the right light in the east window is either a copy or duplicate. Marks3 suggests that the Russell of Strensham arms were installed in c. 1480 -94 – i.e. possibly that it was installed when the church was built, and by extension that would date the John Russell arms now in the south aisle window to a similar date. Marks also suggests a similarity in style with the “royal” figures at Canterbury, and therefore the glass may have been from the same workshops.

Illustration from The Annals of Stamford

Fig 3: Illustration from The Annals of Stamford. Some remaining figures as depicted in the 2nd window in the north isle 1722.

Illustration from the annals of Stamford

Fig 2: Illustration from The Annals of Stamford. Some remaining figures as depicted in the 2nd window in the north isle 1722.

There is another intriguing clue of what at least some of the old glass contained, suggested by Harrod (after Peck). Peck briefly describes the long since demolished Peterborough Hall that stood next to All Saints Church in the centre of the town. This is thought to have been a refectory hall belonging to one of the many religious houses of the town extant in the 14th and 15th centuries; a “large and handsome room, in the north end of which was a spacious church-like window with much painted glass in it, with a figure of a cock in two or three places, and the same figure being in several places in the windows of St Martin’s Church”.

15th century stained glass window in the south chancel east of St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Fig 4: South chancel east window

The present figurative medieval stained glass in St Martin’s was installed in 1759 (or 1760) by William Peckitt5 of York, and is substantially made up of that taken from the chancel of the Collegiate Church in Tattershall (Lincs). Peckitt (see box on Page 3 for brief biography) also added the rather eccentric and uncoordinated patterned glass to fill the gaps, and possibly made some of the armorial shields. Not all the glass that came from Tattershall ended up in St Martin’s; it was also dispersed between the Great Hall in Burghley House and the Chapel of Warwick Castle.6 Although I have not had the opportunity to visit these locations, the CVMA website6 does provide a pictorial record of the glass in Burghley House. The CG also suggests some of the medieval glass—particularly the shield of Borough in the east window and other 16th century shields—came from Snape in Yorkshire, while some came from Warwickshire. I have not found any source that confirms which glass came from Warwickshire, though there is reference to glass having been taken from Barnack, Northamptonshire, about 3 miles south east of Stamford.8 Unfortunately, it does not specify which glass. The removal of the glass from the Collegiate Church at Tattershall in 1757 caused quite a stir amongst the residents of that town culminating in the workmen engaged for the task being assaulted and threatened with death should they return the following day. A lively account of the events appeared in the quarterly journal, Lincolnshire Notes and Queries9 for the year ending 1st October 1889, which is reproduced here in full:

"The removal of the glass from Tattershall church: All previous accounts of the spoliation of the chancel of Tattershall Church have given the date as 1754. Mr Wm. Banks of, Revesby, superintended the removal of the glass on behalf of Lord Exeter, to whom it had been given by Lord Fortescue, the proprietor of the chancel. The consideration for the gift was an agreement by Lord Exeter to re-glaze the windows with plain glass and repair all the damage caused in removing the old glass. The Steward to Lord Fortescue, however, obtained a variation of this agreement by demanding the value in money of the new glass and expense of replacing the old. The townspeople had evidently no hope of the Steward ever actually spending the money in the way it was intended it should be, and their excitement caused a riot. I have in my possession, amongst a number of papers of the late Mr. Wm. Banks, some original and copy correspondence and memoranda relative to the removal of this glass, from which the letter below is taken. The letter is in Mr. Wm. Banks' handwriting, and though not signed or dated is endorsed "Lord Exeter, copy letter to him, 1757." From the endorsement on this letter, and also from the account of expenses incurred by him (also amongst his papers) it will be seen that the date of the removal of the glass was February, 1757, and also that Lord Fortescue's Steward received on his behalf £24 2s. 6d., the assessed cost of re-glazing and repairs. That the windows were for many years never re-glazed, and the chancel left to the mercy of the weather, and the consequences are of course well known.
"My Lord, It gives me a good deal of concern that I am not able to acquaint your Lordship that the Tattershall windows are packt up and gone, which they might have been this day but for the following impediment, on Tuesday last, as the Glazier and his man had Just finished their day's work they were assaulted in the Chancel by some low people of the Town, threatened with Death if they returned to their work, abused, and the Master struck. My servant Fowler who was in the Town made what enquiry he could into the cause of this riot which from what he heard imagins [sic] to be owing to this, that the People in the Town in general dislike the removal of the Glass because they believe that the Steward do's not intend to replace it with new glass, and that they shall be left to say their prayers in a cold church at the hazard of their lives, moreover it has been intimated to him if it was proceeded in without new Glass being put in as the old was taken out that the Boatmen on the River had engaged to assist the next riot & interrupt the work & he (Fowler) believes that without the assurance of replacing new Glass as we go on it could not be done without the hazard of the lives of those concerned in it. For these reasons I thought it best to send the workmen home till the return of the Steward who was then out on a journey not doubting but he would readily agree that I should proceed in that manner not having intimated before any intention of applying the value of the new glass to any other purpose but the use of the chancel but upon acquainting him with the particulars he refuses that I should agree with the People to put up the new glass till he has wrote to my Lord whom I believe he says he will never advise to repair the Chancel any more, so that the new glass if put in will be of no use but to please the People who have no concern therein, as the Chancel belongs entirely to my Lord. I am sorry I should have advised your Lordship to agree to that proposal of the Steward which has occasioned such delay. The Steward would have had us gone on but the Glasier had shewn so much fear on ye occasion ye I think it most prudent to stop till we can be sure to proceed without Tumult or ye apprehension of it for in that case it is mort ye probable if they were restrained from open riot they would do as much mischief by secret malice by perhaps breaking ye Glass or some such Thing as by that. Therefore shall wait till I hear further from your Lordship and am My Lord &c. The Right Honble the Earl of Exeter Dr to Wm. Banks Esq."

15th century stained glass window in the south chancel east of St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Fig. 5: Detail from the South Chancel East window: A saintly king, an
Apostle holding an axe (Thomas?), and a saint in a pilgrim’s hat
(St James the Greater).

The article proceeds to list the bill of quantities for the removal and transportation of the glass to Stamford for a total sum of £33 13s 8d.

Despite his church having been the richer endowed by the transaction, one of the churchwardens at St Martin’s in 1822, Joseph Phillips, in a clear sign he was not a fan, replied in the same journal to the above article, describing Fortescue’s actions as “barbarous”.10

In many contemporary accounts, the story of the removal of the medieval glass from Tattershall church is limited to the glass in the chancel, and the shenanigans surrounding the deal struck between Exeter and Fortescue. However, this process might have been much more comprehensive than that. The Friends of the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity website suggests that the process of removal of all the medieval stained glass was instigated around 1735.11 By their account, “every pane of glass in the building was [originally] stained or painted”, which, if true, would have made the inside of the church very dark and sombre. It would eventually take 19 years to remove the medieval glass after the vicar at that time, Samuel Kirkshawe, who, in complaining about the dark interior and of not being able to read clearly , asked Lord Fortescue, “can this dark stuff not be removed and replaced with clear?”. However, it is inconceivable to believe that by the middle of the 18th century much of the original glass had survived the ravages of time, the reformation and the Puritans. It is more likely that the majority of what still survived in 1737 is still with us, but scattered over four locations, including what has been reinstalled in the east window at Tattershall.

 

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References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

  1. Stained Glass at St Martin’s; Leaflet available to purchase in the church.
  2. Harrod, W. The Antiquities of Stamford & St Martin’s from the Annals of the Rev. Francis Peck 1727. Available at Google Books.
  3. See British History Online: Parishes; Strensham.
  4. Marks, Richard, Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages, 1996, p201. See also CVMA website for images of the glass in Burghley House.
  5. William Peckitt of York, 1731– 14 October 1795, Wikipedia
  6. Marks, Richard, Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages, 1996, p201. See also CVMA website for images of the glass in Burghley House.
  7. Website of The Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA): Entry for Stamford: Burghley House
  8. A Topographical History of Tattershall etc.1813, Horncastle, p11 repeated in The History of the County of Lincoln From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1834; Thomas Allen, Book iv p76
  9. Lincolnshire Notes and Queries; 1 Jan 1888 to 1 Oct 1889. P1
  10. Lincolnshire Notes and Queries; 1 Jan 1888 to 1 Oct 1889. P76
  11. The Friends of the Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity website. History of the Church.

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