THE STAINED GLASS
The series of wheeled cherubim
The stained-glass windows have in their uppermost panes a series of wheeled cherubim (shown) arranged in sets of four. These can be dated to around 1450 and were probably painted in Oxford.
The cherubim are feathered and stand on wheels, presumably a reference to Ezekiel 10, which describes the wheeled cherubim as having four wheels which could move in any of the four directions. The cherubs each have four wings and underneath their wings are human hands. Ezekiel’s text describes the cherubs rising up from the earth.
The windows show the cherubs in sets of four upon wheels, each cherub has four wings and displays his hands suggestive of the Ezekiel text.
Behind the altar is the East window, the two central figures at the top and in the centre of the window are Christ and the Virgin Mary (shown).
They represent the Coronation of the Virgin, a popular subject for artists of the period. On either side are wheeled cherubs.
In the south-east window of the nave is a glass figure of Saint James the Great (shown).
In medieval tradition the Apostles creed was composed by each apostle contributing a sentence and Saint James’ contribution – (QUI) CO(N)CEPTUS (EST) DE SPIRITU SANCTO NATUS EX MARIA VIRGINE (Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary) – is in the scroll.
Various fragments have been incorporated into the south-east window of the nave and some of the other windows, including a piece of grisaille from the 13th century (shown). The little birds (shown) are especially delightful.
The window of Saint Peter, Saint John and Saint James (shown) in the south wall of the chancel is by Clayton and Bell (1897).
That of Saint Ann, Saint Mary and Saint Elizabeth in the south wall of the nave is by a former vicar, the Reverend Stephen Pearce (1899).
The stained glass rosette in the east window has some etched writing on the glass (shown):
The text reads:
‘Emlyn John Bowman, Glazier, Haddenham, April 1965’
[ ] fixed windows [ ] 1965, [ ] Haddenham
Emlyn Bowman of Haddenham, who died in 2010, was 23 in 1965 when he worked on St Laurence Church’s glass. The firm Bowman’s Stained Glass, founded in 1959, still operates near Haddenham and has repaired many church stained glass windows both locally and further afield.
With thanks to Denise Cripps and David O’Brien