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Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Woodcote, St Mark's
Greater London, Croydon

St Mark's began in 1905 as an iron church built to support the growing population of the outer suburbs of London. The land had been given by a local farmer, Edward Harrison, at Peak's Hill, money being raised by the congregation.1 By 1909 sufficient funds had been amassed to embark upon the serious works of building a permanent church, and George Fellowes-Prynne was engaged as architect. By this time Fellowes-Prynne was an established and experienced ecclesiastical architect, having been responsible for a good number of churches in the south west of England and London. To verify their choice of designer, the building committee visited many of Prynne's earlier work and were particularly drawn to his design for St Peter's in Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Unsurprisingly Prynne's design for St Mark's has many similarities to St Peter's, and both share the fate of having been designed with a fine offset tower and spire with a peel of bells which were never built due to lack of funds.

The new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Southwark on 19th November 1909.2 It is classic Fellowes-Prynne; lofty, wagon roofed, brick and white stone interior, Kentish rag exterior. Having cost a shade over £10,000 there were no funds for any embellishments, so the windows were initially plain glass. George Fellowes-Prynne would often engage Percy Bacon to carry out the stained glass in his churches, stating in a letter to a donor of a window at All Hallows Church, Kea Cornwall, "His [Bacon's] glass and painting is, I consider, second to none, and as in the carrying out he works entirely in harmony with my wishes, and in close conjunction with me as the work proceeds, I feel entirely confident of completely satisfactory results". Some windows were installed a good few years after the church was consecrated and it is not clear whether Fellowes-Prynne had any input into the scheme or with the designs. However, the windows seem to form a harmonious whole so it is quite likely he (and Bacon) had in mind a scheme from the outset, a view reinforced by the distinct similarities with designs for windows used at St Mark's and two other Fellowes-Prynne churches in Cornwall; St Columba's, St Columb Major (NTrN), and St Lalluwy's, Menheniot (NA1, NA2 & NA3), as well as the harmony reflected in the north and south transept windows, despite these two windows having been installed over ten years apart. Percy Bacon was well aware of the need to work in harmony with architects, as was explained in his lecture of 1894 given to two northern architectural associations. The glass in St Mark's well attests to this principle.

Not all the dates of installation of the windows have been established for this project.

Centre Light: Christ the King.
Sts Matthew and Mark.
St John and the BVM.

East Window.

East Window: Te Deum: Prophets and Saints. 1916




Posted 08 February 2024
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In typical Fellowes-Prynne fashion the east window is high above the altar (cf Holy Trinity, Exmouth, and St Peter', Budleigh Salterton). He had originally designed a rose window for the east. However, this level of ostentatious embellishment my have been going a little too far for the Parish Committee whose desire was that the church should be neither "high" nor "low". It might also have been the small matter of cost which scuppered Prynne's plan. The window which was finally installed is of five lights with tracery and depicts the "Church Triumphant", a subject Bacon later returned to for the east window of 1929 at St Barnabas, Emmer Green, Berkshire. At the top of the tall central light is the figure of Christ the King, and below him Sts Michael and Gabriel. Between the figure of Christ and the Archangels, the first verse of the Te Deum is written on a scroll held by two angels; "We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord". In the upper sections of the outer lights; in the right lights Sts Matthew, Mark, John and the BVM, and in the left, Sts Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and two others whose names are covered by a saddle bar. Doctors of the Church and Prophets appear in the lower lights: (l-r): St Augustine, St Ambrose, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, David, St Gregory and St Jerome. In the predellas angels play musical instruments.

The inscription3 reads:

"To the Glory of God and in gratitude for the memory of Edward Hain, Captain, Royal First Devon Yeomanry who fell in Gallipoli December 11th 1915. This window was given by Frederick Robert Insoll, Dec 1916".

The window is not signed.

The theme of this window is used in another Percy Bacon work at St Columba's, St Columb Major, Cornwall, also in that church's east window, and also installed under the direction of Fellowes-Prynne, though in this case Christ sits in majesty.

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West Window: Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Ss Peter and Paul with prophets (outer lights). 1926
In the Upper Room at Pentecost.
Predella: Acts of the Apostles.

West Window.

Posted 08 February 2024.

The west window (by Percy Bacon Limited) is actually formed of a central three light window flanked by two somewhat disconnected single lancets. The subject matter is unusual as this is the only extant example in the Bacon Studios corpus of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the other having been in Manchester Cathedral, part of a window that was destroyed during World War Two.

Across the three centre lights is the scene in the Upper Room (Act 1:13-16) with twelve disciples (Matthias had been elected by ballot, and it is assumed he is the character in the centre) along with the Virgin Mary who stands (or sits) higher than the rest in her own niche, possibly meant to represent a canopied throne. Mary Magdalene is also represented. The bible is silent on whether Mary Magdalene was present; the passages in Acts 1 only mentions "other women".

In the predella are scenes from the Acts of the Apostles.

The base inscription from 1 Corinthians 12:11 reads;

"But all these worketh that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will".

In the outer lights are the figures of (left) St Peter, King David, Esra, Moses, Malachi, Mica and Daniel, and (right) St Paul, Solomon, Miriam, Jonah, Amos, Obadia, Samuel and Hosea.4

There is no dedication and no signature.

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Baptistry West: St Michael and the Hierarchy of Angels. c 1917/8
.5 By Percy Bacon Limited
Thrones and Cherubim.
Angeli and Dominationes (Dominions).. For some reason the latin terms are used for these angels.
Archangel Michael.
Archangel Michael.
Virtues and Powers.
Virtues.
Principalities and Seraphim.

Baptistry West Window.

Posted 09 February 2024.

The baptistery window was installed around 1918 and is a war memorial dedicated to a fallen soldier. The dedication reads:

"To the Glory of God and in gratitude for the memory and noble example of R Gordon Hill, Lt MC killed in action in Flanders Oct 11th 1917".

The five light window depicts a triumphant Archangel Michael holding a lance and shield emblazoned with a Golden Cross common to many war memorial windows from the studios of the reformed firm of Percy Bacon Limited.6 The period between 1917 and 1922 were busy for the firm, and a great many of these windows were war memorials.

Surrounding St Michael (Archangel) are Orders of Angels, Thrones, Cherubim, Angels, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities and Seraphim.

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

  1. For a fuller history of St Mark's go to the church web page.
  2. The Builder 26th November 1910: Vol 99 Iss 3538, p671.
  3. For more information about Captain Edward Hain, see the Winchester College at War website.
  4. The Church Stained Glass website incorrectly describes the outer lights of the west window (WWS and WWN) as depicting a Tree of Jesse.
  5. Date retrieved from Church Stained Glass website. The dedication is to a soldier killed in action on 11th October 1917, so it is likely this window was not installed until the following year.
  6. The firm of Percy Bacon and Brothers was liquidated in April 1917, and quickly restarted under the name Percy Bacon Limited in June 1917. For more information refer to A Brief History of the Firm.

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NGR: TQ 30307 62347
Sat Nav Post Code: CR8 3QQ

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