Stained Glass Windows - St Ethelbert - Hessett, Suffolk - Stained Glass Windows on Waymarking.com

"The glass alone is worth coming to Hessett to see. Few Suffolk churches have such an expanse, none have such a variety, or glass of such quality and interest. It consists essentially of three ranges: the life and Passion of Christ in the north aisle (although some glass has been reset across the church), images and hagiographies of Saints in the south aisle, and a heavily restored but nonetheless fascinating sequence of the life of Christ in the west window. This bears close attention, for the fragments set into the restored work include several fascinating details, including the punctured feet of Christ ascending to heaven in a cloud of glory, and a Harrowing of Hell including the crushing of a fallen angel.

In the north aisle, the scourging of Christ stands out, the wicked grins of the persecutors contrasting with the pained nobility of the Christ figure. In the next window, Christ rises from the dead, coming out of his tomb like the corpses in the doom paintings at Stanningfield, North Cove and Wenhaston. The Roman centurion sleeps soundly in the foreground.

The most famous image is in the east window of the south aisle. Apparently, it shows a bishop holding the chain to a bag, with four children playing at his feet. I say apparently, because there is rather more going on here than meets the eye. The reason that this image is so famous is that the small child in the foreground is holding what appears to be a golf club or hockey stick, and this would be the earliest representation of such an object in all Europe. A rather more sober school of thought argues that it is a fuller's club, used for dying clothes, and the symbol of St James the Less. The whole image has been said to represent St Nicholas, who was a Bishop, and whose legends include a bag of gold and a group of children.

Unfortunately, this is not convincing. St Nicholas is never symbolised by a bag of gold, and there are three children in the St Nicholas legend, not four. In any case, the hand in the picture is not holding the chain to a bag at all, but a rosary.

What has happened here is that the head of a Bishop has been grafted on to the body of a figure which is probably still in its original location. The three lights of this window contained a set of the Holy Kinship. The light to the north of the 'Bishop' contains two children playing with what ae apparently toys, but when you look closely you can see that one is holding a golden shell, and the other a poisoned chalice. They are the infant St James and St John, and the lost figure above them was their mother, Mary Salome.

This means that the figure with the Bishop's head is actually Mary Cleophas, mother of four children including St James the Less, and it really is a fuller's club. The third light to the south, of course, would have depicted the Blessed Virgin and child, but she is lost to us."

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Type of building where window is located: Church Address: St Ethelbert The Street Hessett, Suffolk England IP30 9AX Days of Operation: Daily Hours of Operation: From: 12:00 AM To: 12:00 AM Admission Charge: Not Listed

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