Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Font cover. Carving by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Painting by Percy Bacon & Brothers.

Font cover painting. The baptism of Christ and
Suffer the little children to come unto me.

Font cover painting. Left panel decoration.

Font cover painting. Right panel decoration.

Font cover. Carving by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Painting by Percy Bacon & Brothers. 1899.

Posted 31 August 2023. Updated 07 February 2024.

in 1899 Hicks and Charlewood, architects, were engaged to carry out a general restoration of the church. The works included a new marble floor to the chancel, a carved chancel screen, new panels to the chancel walls, clergy stalls, new lamps and an elaborate carved and painted font cover with a hexagonal base which opens out to reveal painted panels. The carving was executed by by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the painting was by Percy Bacon & Brothers.¹ The painting works consists of two figurative scenes on the central, fixed panel, with scroll-work and diaper patterns in subdued colours on the opening leafs. Bacon had worked with Hedley as early as 1894, when he provided the paintings for the reredos at Stoneyhurst College, Clitheroe.

The central images are:

Left: Baptism of Christ: "He sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin". The church guide of 1988 (Richard Butler-Stoney) incorrectly identifies this scene as "Christ washing the disciples' feet).
Right: Christ blessing Children: "He to them up in His arms, He laid his hands upon them and blessed them".

On the side panels, scrolls read:

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Font cover. Scaled drawing by William Searle Hicks of Hicks and Charlewood.

Scaled drawing.of the font cover by William Searle Hicks.
Photo courtesy of Norfolk Church Recording Society.

The font cover cost £110,² and the painting works £40.³

In the Autumn of 2023, the Norfolk Church Recording Society found intricate scaled pen and ink drawings of the altar, reredos and font cover in a linen chest in the church. These were by William Searle Hicks of the Newcastle architects firm of Hicks and Charlewood, and are remarkable for the detail they convey of the work to be undertaken by the carver, Ralph Hedley.

The Hicks scheme did not include for the painted panels, and it is unclear why this was modified. In the event only the top half of the proposed carving was executed, with the bottom half replaced by the opening panels. The cover as originally envisaged by Hicks would have clearly been a good deal more expensive than its final execution, so cost may have played a part.

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Reredos and altar table. Carving by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Painting by Percy Bacon & Brothers (attribution only for the altar table painting).

Reredos left panel. Unidentified domestic scene, but possibly illustrating the Feast of the Passover mentioned in Exodus Ch12: "The Lord said to Moses and Aaron...[each household] shall eat [lamb] roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs".

Reredos centre panel. "Last Supper" scene. In this unusual interpretation Bacon has Christ standing while blessing the wine, as his disciples stand or kneel around Him. Judas Iscariot can be seen in the background skulking away with his silver.

Reredos right panel. Moses and his people in the desert with urns but without water. Possibly a reference to the Waters of Meribah in Number 20.

Reredos:. Carving by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Painting by Percy Bacon & Brothers. 1899.

Posted 31 August 2023. Updated 07 February 2024.

Ralph Hedley was also commissioned by Hicks and Charlewood to carve a new reredos, and statues for the altar table. The panels decoration was executed by Percy Bacon & Brothers.⁴

The subject matter:

The altar paintings. Altar painting probably by Percy Bacon, and executed in 1899 at the same time as the reredos paintings. Stylistically these are very similar to other paintings by Percy Bacon, who used the motif of the Mystic Lamb and the Seven Seals a number of times, most notably at St Andrew's, Boscombe and St Laurence, Upminster. are also likely to be by Percy Bacon, though no evidence has yet come to light for this project to confirm this. Stylistically the painting is very similar to Percy Bacon's work, and the use of the Mystic Lamb. Altar table centre panel (attribution only). The Mystic Lamb and the Seven Seals. A motif used a number of times by Percy Bacon. reinforces this contention. None of the panels are signed.

As mentioned above, a scale drawing of the reredosScale drawing by William Searle Hicks of the reredos with annotations for subjects to be included in the east window.
Photo courtesy of Norfolk Church Recording Society. by William Searle Hicks surfaced in late 2023. Intriguingly, Searle's drawing include annotations for the subjects in the reredos panels as well as an outline of those in the east window, most of which were included by Percy Bacon. It is probable that the altar originally abutted the reredos structure, with no gap.⁵ This would explain the blank spaces in Hicks' drawing.

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1. The Builder 6th May 1899: Vol 76 Iss 2935, p451.
2. Invoice from Ralph Hedley to Hicks and Charlewood for carving works, 2nd May 1899. Invoice from Ralph Hedley to Hicks and Charlewood for carving works, 2nd May 1899.
   Total value £544 17s. Source: Church archive.
3. Receipt from Percy Bacon & Bros to Hicks and Charlewood for font painting works, 11th April 1899. Receipt from Percy Bacon & Bros to Hicks and Charlewood for font painting works, 11th April 1899. Total value £40. Source: Church archive.
4. Receipt from Percy Bacon & Bros to Hicks and Charlewood for painting 3 panels of the reredos. £90. Receipt from Percy Bacon & Bros to Hicks and Charlewood for reredos painting works. At the top of the slip of paper the date is Dec 1896, while the subsequent receipt note is dated January 1899. It is possible that this document served both as a written estimate and an receipt for monies received. Total value £90. Source: Church archive.
5. Norfolk Church Recording Society, North Creake, St Mary's Church, Report, 300 Reredos.