Medieval faces…

I’ve been having a few churchy days lately, courtesy of the bell-ringers in the family.

On Monday, I spent an hour at our local church, All Saints, Soulbury. I’ve been there so many times, but I still love to wander around, it’s a fascinating place. But in all the hours I’ve spent in that church, I’d never previously realised there was a little medieval treasure waiting to be found…

Have a good look at this chancel window…

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Now, the chancel windows, on either side, each has that colourful glass border. I’d never paid it any attention on other visits. But while I was there on Monday, I took a closer look.

And it appears that each of those coloured sections is a fragment of medieval stained glass – presumably from the pre-Reformation days. Most of the fragments are difficult to identify, although I spotted a few architectural features, and some fabric drapes, but suddenly, I noticed a face…

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and then another…

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And then more…

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Each one is really tiny, but has incredible, fine detail. It never fails to take my breath away when we get these little connections to people from the past. I would so love to know who painted those faces.

 

Indulging the window fetish…

It’s become a bit of a family joke that I have a ‘thing’ for taking pictures through windows – my daughters now refer to any such shot as ‘one of mum’s’ pictures and have started taking them for me. Even my brother spotted my funny little habit and is now taking them too.

After the recent Yosemite upgrade, (Thank you Apple, I will get over it one day, but possibly not before I have to resort to counselling), I decided it was time to do some serious organising of my photos and while I’ve been doing that, I’ve come across lots of ‘mum’s pictures’ I’d forgotten about.

So, I thought that from time to time, I’d post them here – indulge me…

Today’s picture is perhaps my favourite bathroom window…

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It’s a room in Packwood House – one of my favourite National Trust properties.

I love the sense of humour of the person who dressed this room, take a good look in the bath, under the splendid lion-head tap…

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Fabulous!

I wrote a post about Packwood House about a year ago, on my other blog The Mists of Time – do pop over and have a look if you like quirky old houses.