North Stoke Church.

Medieval Stained Glass in Sussex Churches.

Introduction .

This is the first stage of a project to list, and show all the medieval glass remaining in churches in West and East Sussex, some is listed in various publications, but they tend to be of the more spectacular ones.
There is a lot of small fragments remaining often high up in windows, and out of view.
For instance there is a small fragment in Bunton Chapel near Wiston in West Sussex, its high up in the Chancel window, and only consists of two or three pieces of dark green glass, but none the less a fragment of a much larger stained glass window.
The project will take considerable time to complete, information being added as and when churches are visited.

History of Stained glass.

In 680 A.D., according to Bede, who had been his pupil, Benedict Biscop (c. 628-629) sent messengers into Gaul, to fetch makers of glass thence, that by a craft until then unknown in Britain, they might glaze windows of a church, and the cloisters, and the refectory.
This was the beginning of the art of stained glass making in the country, the French glassmakers came over and taught the art to the builders of the churches at this time, this was something new. The first church to have stained glass used in its windows was St. Peters, Monkwearmouth, where building had begun in 674, and at St. Paul’s, Jarrow, founded in 681-2.
The amount of stained glass used was very small, for at this time, glass used was difficult to make into large sheets, and the process was expensive. While some early churches were having stained glass windows installed, although in small areas, the vast majority of the population would have to wait many centuries before windows in any buildings had glass in them.
The documentary evidence provided by Bede remained unsupported by fact until excavations of the Saxon monastic buildings at both sites revealed specimens of coloured glass, thought to date to the seventh and eighth centuries.

Both monasteries were destroyed in raids from Scandinavian invaders, circa 875.
Some, 450 pieces of glass were found at these sites, some being made by the millefiori technique, some were of amber coloured glass decorated with white trails, but it is interesting that none showed any signs of paint. Fig no.1.

Medieval Techniques and Materials

To fully understand the importance of medieval glass in churches, it is important to understand the method used to produce the pictures.
In the first quarter of the twelfth century, a German monk, who adopted the pen name Theophilus, wrote a description of the techniques of making stained glass. The basic methods have hardly changed since. Glass was made by melting sand, potash and lime together in clay pots. lt was coloured by the addition of metallic oxides - copper for red, iron for green, cobalt for blue and so on. This is called pot-metal glass. Pot-metal glass, especially red glass, was often too dark to transmit much light. To overcome this, 'flashed' glass was made by dipping a lump of white glass on the blowpipe into a pot of red glass and then blowing, This provided sheets of glass with a thin surface layer of colour. Later, parts of this layer could be removed by grinding with an abrasive wheel; this produced two colours, red and white, on the same piece of glass. Because paper was scarce and parchment very expensive, the full scale outline of the design for a stained glass window was drawn out on a whitened flat survice, such as a table top. The designer would indicate the principal outlines of his drawing, the shape and colour of the individual pieces of glass to be used, and the position of the lead strips (called calmes) that would eventually hold all the pieces of glass together. The panes of coloured glass were cut to shape with a 'grozing iron' and laid on top of the drawing. Through the glass, details of the drawing - faces, hands, drapery etc. - could be seen and these details were traced with an iron oxide pigment on the surface of the glass. After painting, the pieces were fired in a small furnace for sufficient time to fuse the paint to the surface of the glass, and then re-laid on the table and assembled by the glazier, using strips of lead H-shaped in section, which allowed the glass to be slotted into the grooves on each side. The lead provided a strong but flexible bond. The intersections of all the lead strips were then soldered, and oily cement was rubbed into all the joints in order to make them watertight. The panels were then held in place in the window openings by a grid of iron bars set into the masonry. From the early fourteenth century a further range of colours varying from a pale lemon to a deep orange could be achieved on one piece of glass through the discovery of 'silver stain', a silver compound painted on the back of the glass and then fired in a kiln. By the mid sixteenth century many different coloured enamels were being used. As a result, windows began to be painted like easel pictures on clear glass of regular rectangular shape, with lead calmes no longer an integral part of the design. These methods prevailed from the seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries. However, the earlier techniques were revived in Victorian times .


Sussex Churches with some medieval glass in the windows:

The list contains identified medieval glass, but there are more yet to be confirmed:

Bosham, Holy Trinity. four medieval roundels of angels.
Brede St. George. Window above porch has medieval glass.
Cowfold. St. Peter. late 12th and 13th century glass in the Chancel.
Eastergate. St. George. Medieval glass heraldic glass, c1360s.
Etchingham The Assumption and St. Nicholas.late 13th –14th century.
Isfield. St. Margaret. Fragments in South window.
North Stoke. very fine early medieval glass in East window of South Transept:
Poynings. Holy Trinity several windows have ealy glass , but date of some is yet to be confirmed.
Salehurst. St. Mary. Some very tiny birds drawn in brown glass in the tracery of the South east window.
Ticehurst. St. Mary 14th century glass, north side of chancel.
Warbleton. St. Mary. 13th century glass East window of chapel.
West Firle. St. Peter.13th century glass East window of South aisle.
West Grinsted. St. George. 14th century fragments.

North Stoke Church.


The church is in the hands of the Churches Conservation Trust.

North Stoke church is interesting the medieval glass is in windows high up in the south transept.
In the care of, The Churches Conservation Trust.North stoke is set in the loop of the river Arun where the river breaks through an attractive stretch of the South Downs.Three more churches are within the area, St. Michaels Amberley, to the northeast South Stoke, to the south -east and Houghton to the north.The village of North stoke takes its name from stoc which means simply a place, but sometimes a holy place.(Stoch in Domesday Book.)Both North stoke and South Stoke sites properly originate as strongholds guarding a strategic fording place across the river.It was here at North Stoke in 1834 as some workmen were digging a sewer that they discovered an ancient British boat; formed from a hollowed trunk of a singe oak tree, in shape that of an Indian canoe. This is now on show in the British Museum.
This church is a fine example of early English and Decorated style.The large aumbry, and unusual double niche in the south transept-the church being cruciform-a bowl-shaped font, and traces of old stained glass in the east window.Most interestingly, the chancels arch of hard chalk, and are Early English.The tracery of early Decorated windows should be noted, as well as a low-sided window.

Chancel,East Window.
In the central light is the crowned figue of the blessed Virgin mary and a crowned male figure. Fig.no.2.Both have a hand raised in blessing.It is noted that some of the glass pieces forming thier robes may not be in their originall positions.It is belived by many experts this is a part of a scene of Our Ladys Coronation;others have suggested that the male figue could even be King David,from another sceen.The glass has been dated c.1290-1310, this makes this a very rare survival form this period.The border is made up of assorted fragments, note the little bird in the top left hand corner.

Chancel, North-West Window and South- West Windows.

Set in grisaille patterns are the finials which formed the apex of former canopies, which would have almost certainly set above figures of saints.

South Transept ,East Window.

The crowned heads of a female and male. She appears to have her original robed body; his head has been cleverly placed upon another robe from elsewhere.

North transept, North Window.

The quatrefoil at the top retains its original grisaille patterns in place.

North Transept, East Window.

Several small fragments, some painted leaves, have been arranged in the tracery.