3 - Sprouston Parish Church, Kelso, Scottish Borders

The Sweet Pea Kirk in the Scottish Borders is the glamorous and fragrant name given to Sprouston Parish Church. Founded in 1149 it was connected to the nearby Kelso Abbey four miles upstream on the River Tweed. The four Border Abbeys of Kelso, Jedburgh, Dryburgh and Melrose represent the closest cluster of abbeys in Europe due to their control over the vast exporting of wool being sent across to Europe. This fragrant appellation came about in 1912 when the minister, encouraged by his gardener, was awarded first prize in a national sweet pea competition run by the Daily Mail and held in the Crystal Palace, London, his wife receiving second prize. On the financial proceeds of winning of this together they managed not only to furnish the manse but build a chancel on to the church as well. The chancel was embellished with a modest Douglas Strachan window depicting the figure of St Michael. The figure of Satan himself rewards attention : with its eloquently depicted writhing form, Strachan is capably enjoying this. The two greens he has chosen for this depiction are most definitely those from an east coast palette and relevant comparison can be made with the other window in the church.

This later, larger window is by the Glasgow firm Abbey Studios, attached to City Glass, a commercial company. Here the compositional and chromatic association of quite different greens within a broader colour structure are quite different than that of, by easy comparison, the more reserved Strachan. It is the warmer and wider chromatic palette of colours chosen and the ‘sootiness’ of the on-glass modelling stipple which can compromise the glassy aspirations of a playful sharp daylight. These two windows make good examples in their comparison, settling with my own premise of east and west coast identity and outcomes. Like many civic memorial sculptures in towns and cities where the foundry’s mark is of importance to avid collectors, so the maker’s mark and/or distinctive bearing is of interest and can be assessed as part of a window’s creation and character.

In a similar west-coast example the Glasgow-based St Enoch Glass Company have a standardized, easily identifiable approach in their window-work. A nearby example of their work is in the west gable at St Michael’s church in Gordon where a typically heavy stippling in the modelling style gives the whole a strangely metallic burnished feel – like a colourfully brash El Greco painting.

This is the third part of a 10 part essay, to continue reading please follow the link below

Part 4 – Scottish Episcopal Church of St Andrew, Kelso

Alternatively the whole essay, without pictures, can be read as a PDF here, or to go to the beginning of the essay click Part 1 – St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, Edinburgh.