From Burghclere to Bramley

Route map - between Newbury, Berkshire and Basingstoke, Hampshire.

I planned a drive to some churches I had read about in the towns and villages south of Newbury and north of Basingstoke, travelling from west to east as shown in the map above. It proved to be a good day trip that also included views of Watership Down, the woods around Tadley - the site of two of my commissions from 1998 - and the Roman town of Silchester.

1. Ascension Church, Burghclere. Window by Martin Travers 1943

First stop was Ascension Church, Burghclere, a big flint church with lots of good things inside, for example the wooden rood screen viewed from the chancel in the photo above. As usual I was there for the stained glass and in particular a second world war memorial window by Martin Travers. This window looked to me totally successful; in the depiction of the saints (George and Richard of Chichester) the integration of the arms (Eton College, Christchurch College Oxford, the Elkington family crest, the Rifle Brigade crest, Mailed Fist of the 6th Armoured Division, Crusader’s sword of the First Army) and above all the wonderful hand drawn lettering (above right).

2. St Mary, Kingsclere. Windows by Laurence Lee 1965 (left) and William Wailes 1849 (right).

Next was St Mary’s Kingsclere, an even bigger flint faced church with many styles of stained glass in its windows. The patterned grisaille glass by William Wailes seemed to work best with the architecture of the church, like the east window shown above right. In the south transept is the one I’d come to see (above left) a three light window from 1965 by Martin Traver’s pupil Lawrence Lee. I think of this as essentially a formal design, not abstract as I can see a landscape through the organic white grid, and with two patterns - landscape and grid - working with each other and their surroundings. The church leaflet tells us that the window commemorates the racehorse trainer Captain Peter Hastings-Bass, and that it contains pictures of vaguely suggested celestial creatures, also a sparrow-hawk, a red-legged partridge, a rugby ball, racehorses and the white horse of Uffington stretching across the base.

3. St Katherine, Wolverton. 4. St Paul, Tadley.

Next came two churches that were shut, but both with very interesting architectural forms. St Katherine, Wolverton (above left) has at its heart an old flint and wood church that was entirely encased with local hand-made brick in 1717. There is a tall tower, curves at the east end and crow stepped gables on the transepts.

The brick church of St Paul, Tadley built in 1966 (above centre and right) has a separate tower and a dramatic glazed west wall with low key doors in the centre. Through these I could see the beautiful wall of dalle de verre set in concrete stretching around three angled walls at the opposite end of the church. These are the work of Brian Milne who was a pupil of Lawrence Lee at the Royal College of Art from 1959 - 1963. He worked across various media on public art projects in the 1960s and 70s before setting up his stained glass studio in Suffolk which operated from 1983 until his death in 1996.

5. St Mary, Silchester. Window by Jon Callan 2005.

Then to St Mary’s, Silchester, a church built on an early sacred site within the Roman walls of Silchester - there is a great walk around the walls that includes the impressive site of an amphitheatre. Inside the church is a delicate wooden screen in front of 13th century wall paintings, recently conserved, and medieval carvings (above centre and left). Behind the font in the north wall is a 2005 window by Jon Callan entitled ‘Carpe Diem’. It’s a memorial window to Andrew Culbert and Sophie Wilsdon, as we learn from a plaque on the wall and a laminated A4 sheet that partly obscures the window and that includes a picture of the window itself. To me this is essentially a contemporary looking landscape with some obvious religious symbolism (cross, column of light) and some birds shoved in. The laminated sheet however tells us, The window is an abstract design intended to encourage people to put their own interpretation upon the spiritual meaning behind it. It then goes on to describe the design in terms of what it represents. I’m finding out that the word ‘abstract’ is beginning to mean the opposite of what it used to, that is something that had no basis in representation.

6. St James, Bramley. Window of C16th Flemish glass fragments. C12th wall painting of the murder of Thomas Becket.

The last church, St James, Bramley, contained the best things of the day. It is an interesting building with additions from many periods, it has a screen, monuments, wall plaques, medieval wall paintings and lots of medieval stained glass. In the Brocas chapel, added to the church by John Soane in 1802, is a large window that was set in 1889 by Burlison and Grylls with 16th century Flemish fragments, all delicately painted and presented on a subtle patterned background (above left and right). In the north aisle is a window with earlier glass, at the top are radiant suns of the Hose of York, dating from 1461 - 1483, while below are tiny figures of musicians and saints, including Saint Catherine (below right), these are thought to be from the 13th century. Next to the window is a well preserved, because painted over rather than destroyed during the Reformation, mural of St Christopher. The best of the wall paintings is on the opposite wall (above), Thomas Becket’s murder is one of several martyrdoms depicted, with the familiar flourish of red flowers all around.

St James, Bramley. Window with C13th-C15th English glass fragments. C16th wall painting of St Christopher.

Around Winchester

Highlights from a church crawling trip that began on our side of Winchester (the north west) dipped into the south of the city, then continued along the River Itchen travelling north east.

St Peter & St Paul, King’s Somborne from the west end. St Michael window, John Hayward 1996.

The village of King’s Somborne has a late John Hayward window in the belfry at the west end of the church (above). In an interesting note framed and hung on the wall of the belfry Hayward writes

‘The subject matter is suggested by the life and career of Sir Thomas Sopwith, his great interest in flight and the crucial role played by his brain-child, the Hawker Hurricane in the 1939-45 war. The window is dominated by the white flying figure of Archangel Michael who overcomes the darker figure of Satan - an “upside down man” - who in the course of the struggle loses his crown…….The subject is set low in the window to take account of the height above ground level and its position above the porch. it is kept deliberately light in this dark church and much of the colour is derived from the use of silver stain to give a variety of yellows and golds against which the subject is set.’

You can see how well this positioning of the subject, set against a subtle leaded grid, works when you notice the height of the window in the church. The colour and the painted detail are, as always in his work, wonderful.

All Saints, Little Somborne

Next was Little Somborne with the graves of Thomas and his wife Phyllis Sopwith at the front of the church (above). The building has Saxon origins and a Norman chancel, where pillars seem to record what used to be there. It makes a pair with the church of St Mary at Ashley just two miles away (below) built to serve a Norman castle that no longer exists. There is just a fragment of a 13th century wall painting beside a window on the south wall. Both churches are looked after by The Churches Conservation Trust and are therefore plain inside and out and very tasteful.

St Mary, Ashley

St Cross, Winchester

Next into the southern suburbs of Winchester to the hospital and the church of St Cross, although it’s of a cathedral like scale, founded in the 1100s at the same time as the almshouses across the quadrangle. The architecture is Norman, with huge pillars and rounded arches surrounded by zigzagging. High up in the chancel are stained glass figures using old glass fragments (above centre and right), with another particularly good example in the east wall of the north transept (below left). The church was carefully and colourfully restored by Butterfield from 1859, with windows in the nave by Wailes, at a later date more stained glass windows were commissioned including a pair in the north chapel that I particularly like of Saints Michael and George (below right and lower panel).

St Cross, Winchester. Centre, north transept wall with zigzagging. Right, St Michael, James Powell & Sons 1917. Below, detail of St George window, James Powell & Sons 1917.

St Mary, Avington. East window detail, James Powell & Sons 1914

We followed the route of the River Itchen from the east of Winchester to a string of villages with interesting churches. The 18th century brick church at Avington (above) is lovely from the outside and the inside, with a blue ceiling, tall rounded mahogany box pews and a dove above the pulpit. The stained glass crucifixion detail in the east window (above right), again a window by Powells, has a view of a town in the background, solid and effective against the clear background.

St Mary, Itchen Stoke, chancel and south wall.

You may have noticed that although it is August and a heatwave is on, there is no sunshine. This may mean that I’ll have to go back to my favourite church of the day, St Mary’s at Itchen Stoke. It’s a tiny version inspired by Sainte Chapelle in Paris, which I remember as a contrast in lighting (and therefore a demonstration of how stained glass works) as the wall of windows on the south side were illuminated by the sun, while the wall of windows on the north side looked black because more light was reflected off the surface than was coming through them. Here at Itchen Stoke there was a dull pink light as all the windows glowed with stained glass patterns where red and blue glass predominate. The lower walls are decorated with subtle 3d tile panels, and the patterns continue on to the cast iron pew ends and the tiled floors. Best of all is the rose window above the entrance doors (below) that contains sections of 13th century glass around its edges. Built in 1866, It is one of only two churches designed by the engineer and architect Henry Conybeare and the only one still standing.

Rose window at west end of St Mary, Itchen Stoke.

Three Small windows

St Margaret, St Margaret’s, Herefordshire.

The last church we visited on our trip to Hereford and back was St Margaret’s, the name of both the village and the church, which is in a field high up with a view of the Golden Valley to the east (above). It’s a beautiful spot, the small church is notable for its carved oak screen which is also a loft (below), a rare survivor from the Tudor period. Beyond the screen is a low chancel with more of the painted biblical texts on the walls and a wonderfully detailed east window by Archibald Davies, otherwise known as A.J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild.

St Margaret’s, Herefordshire, looking through the tudor screen.

The chancel, St Margaret’s with east window by A.J. Davies 1926

The window fits perfectly with the other features in the church in terms of its colouring, its size and its scale of detail with an oak leaf border that echoes the screen. It’s so satisfying to see this sort of harmony in a church interior - the wonderful details you find on closer inspection (below) are an added bonus.

Details from the A.J. Davies window that shows a scene from the life of St Margaret.

This window was the third I had seen on this trip where a low decorated chancel was beautifully complemented by a small east stained glass window. The other two were in Gloucestershire churches, both with a series of Norman arches carved with zig zags. At St John, Elkstone (below) zigzags also arch over the virgin and child window by Henry Payne who taught A.J. Davies at Birmingham School of Art.

The chancel, St John, Elkstone, Gloucestershire.

The features of this beautiful chancel are the vaulted arches with dragons’ heads where they meet and the amazing yellow light that fills the space through the south windows. The stained glass window is simple and fits in as well as an ancient one would. I always admire Payne’s flower details, here the floral border seems to nod to the Norman carving with the flowers contained by diamonds and separated by a string of circles.

Elkstone: left, looking through the norman arches: right, east window by Henry Payne 1929.

Kempley: left looking through the Norman arch: right, east window by C.E. Kempe 1876.

I found the most remarkable combination of stained glass and church decoration to be at St Mary, Kempley, a church that is famous for its Romanesque wall paintings. The paintings start in the nave and above the arch as you can see in the photo above left, then past the checked pattern under the arch to a low vaulted chancel. Once inside you are surrounded by a background of strong, earthy colours and the pale silhouettes of patterns and figures as the walls and ceiling are completely covered with frescoes that were painted around 1130 then covered over between the Reformation and the 1870s. The small east window by C.E. Kempe (above right) is in his familiar style but really looks at home here with a similar balance of pale silver stained figures against a dark red background, silhouetted by the light.

The chancel, St Mary, Kempley, Gloucestershire.

I was reminded of how much I value a small window, as opposed to metres of glazing. And how refreshing it is in a church to progress to a small, intimate space which, in all three cases, has a truly divine atmosphere.

St Mary, Kempley - no hint of what’s inside but a fabulously pink wall.

Some Cotswold Churches

St. Michael and St. Martin’s Church, Eastleach Martin: west window.

On the signpost opposite the church of St. Michael and St Martin (above left) are all the villages that we visited on this walk in Gloucestershire, just north of Lechlade as the signpost says. There are two churches at Eastleach with a river running between them, they are both lovely from the outside and the inside. As is usual for churches in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust, the only not so tasteful thing in the building is the sign that tells you about the Trust at the west end of the church (above right). In most of the windows the only colour is a yellow border strip, some have fragments of medieval glass in them and how exciting this seems in the face of all this plainness (below).

Eastleach Martin: looking east and medieval glass fragments in chancel.

St. Andrew’s Church, Eastleach Turville: looking west.

St Andrew’s Church across the river is even simpler and plainer despite being in use for services, with a beautiful bible out on a lectern. The windows are filled with diamonds or squares, some with spectacular mends that link with the branches outside (below).

Eastleach Turville, east window and south nave window.

St. Nicholas Church, Hatherop, south chapel.

A short walk across to Hatherop, another church with a saddleback tower and a calm, uncluttered interior. The south chapel (above right), its windows filled in with white plastic sheet, is particularly lovely. It was built as a mortuary in 1855 by the architect Henry Clutton with the assistance of William Burges and is filled with rich carving. There is also a beautiful marble monument to Barbara, Lady Mauley who died in 1844, an angel at her feet and another at her head (below).

Marble monument by Raffaelle Monti to Barbara, Lady de Mauley.

St Peter’s Church, Southrop: east and west windows with bits of colour and detail.

The last church was at Southrop, equally clean, coordinated and simple (above), and honestly by now I could hardly remember which interior went with which church.

When church visiting I’ve started imagining that if I lived nearby, would I look forward to attending a service in that church. Some have the wrong sort of atmosphere for me, like a damp guesthouse, and I walk straight out, it’s a good way of assessing what I want from a church interior. On that basis, this group of Cotswolds churches, although superb in terms of interior decoration, are a bit austere for me, not giving enough in terms of colour or meaning.

Stained Glass Inscriptions

Whenever I see beautiful lettering decorating the walls of a church I think what a good idea it is to use meaningful texts to embellish a church interior. The inscriptions on stained glass windows however, are rarely as interesting to me, usually being an account of who commissioned the window and when they died placed in a predella type panel at the bottom.

Left: St Winifred’s Church, Manaton, Devon. Detail of window by Frank Brangwyn 1927 Right: St Andrew’s Church, Cullompton, Devon. Detail of window by GER Smith c 1950

Some examples from twentieth century windows seen on recent church visits (above and below) show a variety of lettering style with borders and backgrounds, and a tendency to run the sentences across the two or three lights in each window so it is hard to make sense of the narrative. I prefer the inscription, light on a dark ground, by Robert Anning Bell (below left) where you read a complete sentence in one pane and find out when the person commemorated was born.

Left: St Paul de Leon Church, Paul, Cornwall. Detail of window by Robert Anning Bell 1917 Right: St.Matthew’s Church, Midgham, Berkshire. Detail of window by Francis Skeat 1955

St Margaret’s Church, Knook, Wiltshire. East windows by Alexander Gibbs 1874.

This wall of windows (above) in a tiny church restored by William Butterfield in 1874 with windows made by Alexander Gibbs, shows how far apart the parts of the sentence can be, with Lady Heytesbury’s name split either side of the altar. The lettering, in rows separated by bars of red glass, is truly a part of the design, colourful and legible from a distance.

At Heytesbury in the same parish is the large church of St Peter and St Paul, also restored by William Butterfield with windows made to his designs by Gibbs. Here, the panel of text is truly spectacular (below) in departure board style, with triple rows of coloured glass between the lines of white and yellow writing.

St Peter and Paul Church, Heytesbury, Wiltshire. Detail of north window by Alexander Gibbs, 1867

The arrangement of these stripes of writing, taking up vertical space in one narrow window light, reminded me of the one in St Nicholas, East Grafton (below). Here there are coloured bands at the bottom of the panel and patterns at the top, the script is surprisingly easy to read and the message is meaningful as well as decorative.

St Nicholas Church, East Grafton, Wiltshire. Detail of East window by Heaton, Butler and Baine 1888.