Stained Glass Windows, St Mary's - Winfarthing, Norfolk - Stained Glass Windows on Waymarking.com

The Sword of Winfarthing is the subject of a great medieval legend. "It was said that one knight killed another in a dispute over a woman, and sought refuge in the church. No doubt he claimed Benefit of Clergy (meaning, simply, that he could read and write) and was allowed to flee into exile.

But his sword remained and, for whatever reason, it became a relic imbued with supernatural properties. Thomas Becon's Reliques of Rome (1563) recalled that a wife who wanted to rid herself of an abusive husband could achieve this by praying and setting a candle before that swerd every Sunday for the space of a whole yere, no Sunday excepted, for then all was vain whatsoever was done before. Its help was also sought for thinges that were lost and for horses that were eyther stolen or were alse run astray.

Today, the sword is itself lost, gone astray like so much else in the holocaust of the Reformation. But what became of it? Perhaps it was melted down. Or perhaps it was buried, and it still lies under the ground somewhere in the fields of south Norfolk."

SOURCE - http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/winfarthing/winfarthing.htm

There is a collection of medieval glass fragments compiled into two roundels in the upper lights of the east window, but otherwise the sanctuary is spare and simple.