"The feature that makes East Harling famous, the vast east window with its 15th century glass. After St Peter Mancroft it is probably the best collection in Norfolk. Unusually, the provenance of the glass is fairly well-documented: we can be fairly certain that it came from this church originally. Still present after the Reformation, it was removed by the Harling family to the Hall in the early 17th century. They may have been Laudians wanting to preserve it from the intentions of the puritans, or merely thought it would look nice in their dining hall; whatever, we know that shortly before Blomefield visited here in the 1730s it was returned to the church and set in its present configuration.
In 1939, when war threatened, it was removed again, being reset just before Cautley visited in the early 1950s. There are parts of at least three sequences here, two of which were almost certainly in the east window originally, and one which almost certainly wasn't.
Essentially, the window contains two rosary sequences; the Joyful Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin, which include the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Assumption, and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin, which include the Crucifixion and the Pieta. However, this is open to interpretation, as we shall see. There is also the figure of St Mary of Magdala, which may once have been associated with a nave altar, and would have been located in a window there.
The five lights contain four rows of panels, making twenty altogether. A description of the panels follows.
Top row:
I. Annunciation: Mary at her prayer desk. Gabriel, crowned and haloed, with a sceptre of lilies, kneels in supplication.
II. Visitation: Elizabeth, hooded to show her age, places her hand on Mary's pregnant belly.
III. Nativity: Two midwifes look on. The infant in the manger is rayed; a horned cow gazes in awe.
IV. Adoration of the Shepherds: One holds a lamb, one plays pipes. A third appears to offer a fleece.
V. Adoration of the Magi: Two of the wise men gauge each others' reactions as the third offers his gift.
Second row:
VI: collection of fragments
VII: Presentation in the Temple: Joseph carries the doves, Mary offers the child to Simeon. Anna is not shown.
VIII: The Finding in the Temple: Head covered, Mary bursts in among the men to find her son teaching.
IX: The Wedding at Canaa: Christ, seated at the top table, blesses a chicken and a ham. Mary directs the servant.
X: collection of fragments
Third row:
XI: Mary of Magdala: Mary holds her long hair ready to anoint Christ's feet. Probably not from this window originally.
XII: The Betrayal at Gethsemane: Judas kisses Christ; Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant.
XIII: Crucifixion: Mary swoons in John's arms.
XIV: Deposition from the cross: The pieta. Tears spring from Mary's eyes.
XV: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin: Mary is assumed bodily into heaven.
Bottom row:
XVI: Donor: Probably Robert Wingfield, second husband of Anne Harling.
XVII: Resurrection: Christ steps fully clothed from the tomb. Unusually, the soldiers are awake.
XVIII: Ascension of Christ: Mary, surrounded by disciples, watches as her son ascends to heaven.
XIX: Descent of the Holy Spirit: Mary, surrounded by disciples, receives the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
XX: Donor: Probably William Chamberlain, first husband of Anne Harling.
Nowadays, we tend to think of the rosary as consisting of three sequences of five mysteries each, but in the late middle ages things were much more flexible, and rosary sequences often consisted of seven mysteries. The Glorious Mysteries sequence, of which the Assumption is now a part, is a later development, and the two adorations shown here are subsumed into a single mystery. There are a couple of images here that don't quite fit; the Wedding at Canaa is obviously a Marian text, and yet is not traditionally a rosary subject. Similarly the Betrayal, the only one of the images not to feature Mary. I wonder if what we have here are parts of two separate sequences, a Marian sequence of mysteries (I-V, VII-IX, XV), and a Passion sequence (XII-XIV, XVII-XIX). They are both clearly the work of the same workshop, and Mary is always shown with the same face and dress, but this would not preclude them from being two sequences.
Why were they here at all? We need to get away from thinking of such things as a 'poor man's bible', the need for which was superseded at the Reformation. These were devotional objects, designed to be used as meditations while praying and saying the rosary. They were created in the 15th century, a time when the mind of the Church was fiercely concentrated on asserting orthodox Catholic doctrine in the face of local superstitions and abuses. As such, they were anathema to the reformers, and were later elsewhere destroyed for being superstitious, not for being superfluous. An 18th century antiquarian mind, ignorant of the nature of Catholic devotion, might easily mix the two sequences into historical order, and possibly misunderstand the Assumption (obviously, as Mary reappears two images on at the Ascension, it is out of order). I wonder what they thought it was?
A couple of other things about the east window that you shouldn't miss. Firstly, everywhere you look there are tiny baskets - Mortlock calls them 'frails', and tells us that they were simple rush baskets used by workmen to carry tools. Also, though not in such profusion, there are bodices. These symbols are repeated elsewhere in the church in stone on tombs, and as such must be symbols of the Harling family.
Another symbol is high up on the north side, a red squirrel. Curiously, this also appears in the painting A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling by Hans Holbein, now thought to be a portrait of Anne Lovell - the squirrel is a symbol of the Lovell family, who took over the local manor here from the Harlings in the 16th century, and the starling represents Ea- well, you guess."
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"The north aisle window is a c1860 window and believed to be the product of a local craftsman. It commemorates Amos & Elizabeth Allen, who both died in 1855. It depicts The Crucifixion and quotes Christ’s New Testament words to Martha “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live” "
"The east aisle window contains fragments of glass. The tracery lights hold the heads of two angels, whilst in the main lights the following are depicted:
An angel with a harp which originally belonged to the same set as the two angels in the tracery lights of the East window. Above the figure is a strip of glasses painted with a pattern of centaurs & cherubs which can be dated back to the 16th century and is probably of Netherlandish origin
The two shields belong to the Lovell and Muswell families. Although somewhat indistinct they both include red squirrels, the badge of the Lovell family. The squirrel has also been depicted in the tracery lights of the East window
A 17th century angel which was probably originally in a clerestory window, together with a crown of the same date"
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