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Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Boscomb, St Andrew's
Dorset

Chancel South: The Kebel Rose Window: 1910.


Chancel South, Rose Window: The Keble Window. 1910.

 


Posted 28 January 2023
.

At the same time as the east window was being installed, a multi-foiled rose window high on the south wall of the sanctuary was executed. This simple window with nine symmetrical cusps and little more than 1m across contains a likeness of John Keble  (April 1792 – March 1866) as clergyman, dressed in cassock, surplice and stole. Keble was for thirty years Vicar of Hursley, near Winchester, and one of the leaders of the Tractarian and Oxford Movement .

Beneath the portrait the inscription (initialising "Ad Dei Gloriam") reads, "A D G KEBLE 1910".

The window was gifted to the church by Miss Ward, a parishioner.1 It is unsigned.


North Chapel, East, 1910. St Elizabeth, Virgin and Child, Prophetess Anna

North Chapel, East, 1910. St Elizabeth.

North Chapel, East, 1910. BVM and Child.

North Chapel, East, 1910. The prophetess Anna.

North Chapel East.: Installed June 1910.2
St Elizabeth, Virgin & Child, Prophetess Anna

North Chapel East. 1910.
St Elizabeth, Virgin & Child, Prophetess Anna




Posted 28 January 2023
.

Installed in June 1910,2 the theme of this window is The Incarnation, borne out in the inscription at the base of the central light; "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). It is nonetheless a conflation of a number of different, though connected episodes in the Gospels. It is a purely figurative, and drawn from Luke Chapters 1 and 2, which relates the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth and the presentation of Jesus in the temple. The left light represents St Elizabeth, with the words above her from Luke 1:43, "Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?" In the centre light stands the Virgin with Child along with the inscription, also voiced by Elizabeth, "Blessed art though among women" (Luke 1:42). The figure in the right light is less certain, though likely to represent the prophetess Anna who is said to have seen Jesus at His presentation in the temple and who went out and, "spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38). However, the words on the scroll above Anna are those spoken by Simeon; "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 2:30).

The figures stand within (or rather just outside) their own elaborate architectonic niche, each of which soars into the top of their respective light, the figure of Mary framed by a finely woven and bejewelled carpet held up by three diminutive angels.

The dedication at the base across all three lights (partially obscured by a curtain behind the altar) reads:

To the Glory of God and in memory of Abraham Andrews, Born at Barnet Manor House, Tilneyhirne, Cambs, March 11th 1823, died at "Tilneyhirne" Boscombe, July 19th 1907. This window was presented by his sorrowing widow, Susannah Andrews.

The window is unsigned.

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

  1. Hand written notes on gifts to the church held in St Andrew's Church archive.
  2. See Extracts from Church magazine, June 1910; Document held in the church archive.

 

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