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Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Boscombe, St Andrew's [FN1]
Dorset
St Andrew's Boscombe Interior, Circa 1909, before the east window was filled with stained glass.
The reredos were replaced in 1934
Photo © Alwyn Ladell. Licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
St Andrew's Church, Boscombe, Circa 1910. Photo © Alwyn Ladell.
Licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

St Andrew's Boscombe Circa 1910.© Alwyn Ladell
Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.


Posted 25 January 2023
.

St Andrew's began as a simple mission hall built of iron in 1891. The "Iron Church" built in 1891 and demolished in 1907 to make way for the new church.
This was described in a document held by St Andrew's as "a very ugly tin tabernacle".
PD Image from The Story of St Andrew's published in 1958.
The site had been given by Lady Shelly, wife of Sir Percy Florence Shelley, the son of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The building we see today was built between 1907 and 1908 to a design by John Oldrid Scott who also designed St John's in Boscombe. In the absence of the Bishop of Winchester through illness, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Osaka, Japan on 13th October 1908.1 An earlier concept of 1895

Concept drawing by Henry Wilson for the west front of the new (un-executed) St Andrew's, Boscombe,
From The Academy architecture and annual architectural review, Vol. 7, 1895, p24.

Wilson may have taken some inspiration for his vision of St Andrew's from an early design of 1893 for St George's, Worcester, by Sir Aston Webb, whose original concept of a deeply recessed arch, heavily buttressed tower and ornamental spire is reflected in Wilson's design.1

In a report on the exhibition of architecture at the Royal Academy in May 1895, the correspondent to The Builder (Vol lxviii, 4 May 1895, p323) described the design thus:

"...The two drawings which will catch every eye most prominently are two large watercolours on the south wall, which at a little distance, and at first glance, suggest the idea of being, the one a drawing of an Egyptian pylon, and the other the interior of an Egyptian temple (restored). They represent however, in fact, Mr. H. Wilson's idea for a new church at Boscombe (Bournemouth). A la bonne heure! Bournemouth has up to the present time at about the lowest architectural level of any town we know of; as far as we can recollect, except Street's church [presumably St Peter's], there is not a decent building, architecturally speaking, in the place. The exterior 'study for the west front of [the] proposed church of St. Andrew, Boscombe derives its quasi-Egyptian aspect from the fact that the wall lines slope inwards from the ground to the top, to an extent we should think there would be some difficulty in realising in execution any due regard to the economy of material".

Clearly the correspondent, although impressed with the watercolour work, and the design being, "a piece of real poetic invention in architecture", does question the practicality and cost of building such an edifice. In the event, of course, this was to remain a mere concept.

Click the next button to view the sketch of the interior.

Note 1: See Richardon, M: Architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1983, p133 (available at the Internet Archive). Aston Webb's initial design for the west front of St George's was modified significantly in its final execution.

Concept drawing by Henry Wilson for the interior of the new St Andrew's, Boscombe. This design was not built.
From The Academy architecture and annual architectural review, Vol. 7, 1895, p25. PD Image.

Concept plan of St Andrew's by Henry Wilson of 1895. This scheme was never built. Published in The Builder, 31 August 1895, p154.

by architect Henry Wilson, which although highly regarded when he exhibited his designs at the Royal Academy in that year, never progressed beyond his drawing board. Wilson's design, in High Gothic style was significantly more elaborate than the church we see today. Wilson also assisted with the design of the tower at St Clement's in Boscombe, modifying J D Sedding's original..

Percy Bacon & Brothers was commissioned in 1910 to install a number of windows in the church beginning with the chancel east, rose window and in the north chapel, and returning in 1911 and 1912 to glaze the west end of the church. This includes the Great West Window, another of Bacon's "secular" windows, which illustrates the virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice, with portraits of real people, one of who, Florence Nightingale, had only recently died.

 

East Window: Crucifixion, St Andrew, BVM, St John & St Peter: 1910.

St Andrew's Boscombe: East Window

East Window. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and click/drag to explore the window.

East Window; 1910. Central panel: Crucifixion.
East Window; 1910. Central left panel: Blessed Virgin Mary.
East Window; 1910. Central right panel: St John.
East Window; 1910. Left panel: St Andrew.
East Window; 1910. Right panel: St Peter.
East Window; 1910. Left panel below St Andrew.
An angel holds the arms of the Kingdom of Mercia.
East Window; 1910. Right panel below St Peter.
An angel holds the arms of the Diocese of Gloucester.
East Window; 1910. Central panel below the cross.
Agnus Dei standing on a casket with seven wounds.
East Window; 1910. Central panel above the cross.
Angels hold the cloth behind the cross.
East Window; 1910. Tracery light.
Arma Christi: The Ladder and the Sponge surrounded by a golden Crown of Thorns and vines.
East Window design; 1910. Illustration in The Builder of the proposed window, 17 December 1910. This shows the original dedication at the base of the three central lights, now missing, and the design modifications which were made in the final execution of the window.


Posted 28 January 2023
.

The large east window, of five lights and tracery, was installed in 1910, the gift of James Thomas Hathornthwaite, 1st people's Warden of St Andrew's.2 The design is classic Bacon with its trademark figures set within complex architectonic niches. The central light depicts Christ Crucified, with the two flanking representing the Blessed Virgin and St John in their typical positions. All three figures are set before colourful drapes or carpets edged with pearls, held up by angels. In the far left and right lights respectively the standing figures of St Andrew and St Peter each hold their symbols, and below them within their own canopied niches angels hold shields with coats of arms. A description of the window printed coevally with the window's installation suggests these are arms traditionally associated with the saints depicted. However, the colouring suggests these are the arms of the Kingdom of Mercia (azure a saltire cross or), and the Diocese of Gloucester (azure, crossed keys or). Below the cross an Agnus Dei stands upon a chest with seven seals, a reference to Revelation 5-8,t and "The emblematical lamb, standing on the Fountain of Grace". This rather unusual representation of the Lamb of God may have been inspired by Jan Van Eyck's large polyptych altarpiece in St Bravo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, " The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Jan Van Eyck, 1432.
Detail of the lower central panel in the much larger 12 panel polytyche in St Bravo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.
Public Domain Image. The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Jan Van Eyck, 1432.
Part of the 12 panel polytyche in St Bravo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.
Public Domain Image
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Jan Van Eyck, 1432.
Central detail. Blood drains from a wound in the side of the lamb into a golden chalice.
Public Domain Image.
", also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, painted in 1432.3 Unlike the Van Eyck piece where blood issues from a wound in the lamb's breast into a golden chalice (symbolic of the wound in Christ's side), Bacon has chosen to represent the blood of Christ pouring from seven holes in the casket on which the lamb stands, and into a font, representing (as suggested in the 1958 history of the church) the seven sacraments, but more probably the Seven Wounds of Christ. A wound is also visible in side of the lamb standing on the casket. A similar device was used for the east window in St Laurence, Upminster, London.

In the five trefoil tracery lights, surrounded by vine leaves are represented the Arma Christi each placed within a golden crown of thorns; from left to right: The scourge, hammer and pincers, ladder and The Holy Sponge set on a reed, with which gall and vinegar were offered to Jesus, three nails, and the column to which Christ was tied and whipped. The other tracery lights contain vine leaf motifs.

Inscriptions:

At the feet of Christ: Tu devico martis aculeo aperruisti credentius regna coelorum (When thou hast overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom Of Heaven to all believers).

Above the Agnus Dei: Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God).

Above the Virgin: Muller ecce filius tuus (Woman, behold thy son).

Signature of Percy Bacon & Brothers, 11 Newman Street, London

Below the Virgin: Et tuam ipsius animam petransibit gladius (And, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul).

Above St John: Ecce mater tua (Behold thy mother).

Below St John: Filioli digitite alterutrum (Little children, love one another).

In the open book at John's feet: in principio erat verbum. Et verbum apud deum (In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God - John 1:1).

Above St Andrew: Faciam vos fieri piscatores homimum (I will make you become fishers of men).

Above St Peter: Christ's Charge to St Peter: Pasce oves meas (Feed my sheep).

The dedication which ran through the base of the three central lights is now missing. It is assumed the lower portions of these lights were removed when the original 1914 reredos was replaced by a new one in 1934, and the base of the window blocked up as can be seen in this contemporary image. East window (3rd from left).
External view showing the three central lights blocked up as part of the installation of the reredos in 1934.
Photo © Alwyn Ladell. Reproduced under Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The original inscription read:4

AD MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM
HANC FENESTRAM VITEIS ORNARI CURAVIT
JACOBUS THOMAS HATHORNTHWITE AM
PRIMUS HUIUS AEDIS
SUFFRAGIIS FIDELIUM CUSTOS CREATUS
ANNO SALUTIS MDCCCX.*

(To the Glory of God, and in memory of James Thomas Hathornthwaite MA, 1st People's Warden of this Church, in the year of salvation, MDCCCX).

* This inscription is taken from and similarly formatted in the typed document in the church describing the window's inscriptions. The date as recorded above (MDCCCX) reads 1810 rather than 1910. Whether this was an error on the part of the typist or in the window itself is moot.

The window was dedicated on 6th November 1910 at the morning service. It is signed bottom right "PERCY BACON BROS. 11 NEWMAN ST. LONDON W."

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

  1. A S Carlos: The Story of St Andrew's Boscombe, 1908-1958.
  2. Description of the east window dated 1910. Typed document in St Andrew's Church. See also report in The Builder Vol 99, 12 Nov 1910, p593.
  3. See Wikipedia. "Ghent Aplarpiece".
  4. A S Carlos: The Story of St Andrew's Boscombe, 1908-1958.

Foot Notes:

  1. Many thanks to the churchwardens at St Andrew's who kindly photocopied the booklet by Mrs Carlos which was written to commemorate the first 50 years of the church, and the ancillary documents describing the window and its inscriptions.

 

Location Map:

NGR: SZ 11605 91663
Sat Nav Post Code: BH5 1HJ

All text and photos © Alan Spencer, except where otherwise stated; All Rights Reserved