Stained Glass Windows - St John the Baptist - Harleston, Norfolk
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SMacB
N 52° 24.137 E 001° 18.062
31U E 384418 N 5807139
Some fine stained glass windows in St John the Baptist's church, Harleston.
Waymark Code: WMYG7R
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/12/2018
Views: 0
Some fine stained glass windows in St John the Baptist's church, Harleston.
"The church was built in the 1870s to replace a ruinous medieval church on the market place. That had been built as a chapel of ease to mighty Redenhall, and the modern church still has the feel of a chapel, built by diocesan architect Richard Phipson, most famous for the interior of Norwich St Peter Mancroft and the complete rebuilding of Ipswich St Mary le Tower. He did a lot of work in the Waveney valley, but as far as I know this is his only complete church outside of Suffolk.
The glass is very interesting, because the whole church is a single commission from the O'Connors in the 1870s. That in the north aisle has since been removed and replaced in the 1980s with flowing images something in the style of Surinder Warboys. The panels in the apse tell the story of Christ from Annunciation to Resurrection - my two favourite panels are the deposition and the three Marys at the tomb. Scenes from parables and the life of Christ fill the nave. The best is undoubtedly the lame man being lowered through the roof of the building where Christ is teaching - he wears Victorian workman's clothes. The raising of Lazarus is also good. The Good Samaritan is the odd one out, because instead of the three lights forming a single subject it tells the story in three images.
The modern glass depicts the river Waveney and its wildlife, angel musicians and a nimbused figure beneath an autumnal tree, who I assume is St John the Baptist. The O'Connors' 1870s sequence of scenes in the life of St John the Baptist in the west window should also not be overlooked."
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