Church of St John the Baptist, Garboldisham, Norfolk
Address
Church of St John the Baptist, Garboldisham, Diss, Norfolk , IP22 2SERecommended by
Highlight
Series of windows all produced by James Powell & SonsArtist, maker and date
J. W. Brown & others for James Powell & Sons, c.1880-c.1936Reason for highlighting
The medieval Church underwent a Victorian restoration, which included the insertion of new stained glass windows – but not just any windows! All the glass was produced by the James Powell & Sons’ workshop which enabled a series of windows to be designed which contribute considerably to the ambience of the church. The windows are exquisite.
The east window (1887) and the most easterly of two south chancel windows (1880) are by John William Brown in the aesthetic style, and have been described by Birkin Haward, a leading authority on Norfolk stained glass, as being “works of national consequence” – they are also beautiful.
Artist/maker notes
John William Brown (1842-1928) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and trained as an artist under William Bell Scott at the Newcastle Government School of Design, later joining the staff when Scott moved to London in 1864. In the late 1869 Brown also moved to London and joined the William Morris studio, before being attracted to joined James Powell and Sons in 1874. In the mid-1880s, while continuing to design for Powells, he took up freelance work, forging a particularly strong link with Fouracre & Watson in Plymouth. His Newcastle links also led to his involvement in Thomas Ralph Spence’s great Church of St George, Jesmond. This increased his engagement with the ideas of the emerging Arts & Crafts Movement, as could be seen in his work when he rejoined Powells in 1894, after three years in Australia.
Source: Damozels and Deities: Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass 1870–1898 by William Waters, (Abbots Morton: Seraphim, 2017)
James Powell & Sons was formed when James Powell purchased Whitefriars Glass, an old established glass works, in 1834. His sons developed the business to be one of the major firms of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Especially notable is their work with Charles Winston in the 1840s and 1850s to improve the quality of glass available, and the many fine designers with whom they worked. The company’s innovations extended beyond stained glass, with the company developing a formidable reputation in a number of fields, including tableware glass, where Whitefriars Glass remains highly collectable. The stained glass department finally closed in 1973, and the company in 1980.
Sources:
James Powell & Sons, Whitefriars by Jacqueline Banerjee, PhD, Associate Editor, The Victorian Web
Victorian & Edwardian Stained Glass by Marta Galicki (Historic England, reprinted by Morris & Juliet Venables, 2001)
Other comments
While all the windows in the church are from the studio of James Powell & Sons, unfortunately, not all the designers have been identified. However, there is still an interesting study to be made of the firm’s evolving style, for example, in the windows of the south aisle of the nave.
The east window of the south aisle, 1901, is again by J. W. Brown and demonstrates how he moved on from his earlier aesthetic style. The new approach evolves in the next two windows, of 1909 and 1917, before culminating in the west wall of the south aisle with a window of 1936 designed by James Humphries Hogan.
Further information: Norfolk Stained Glass – Garboldisham