Church of St Laurence, Ludlow, Shropshire
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Church of St Laurence, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1AJNRecommended by
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West window, History of LudlowArtist, maker and date
Thomas Willement, 1859-60Reason for highlighting
The great west window is the major monument to a church restoration campaign starting in 1858. Although Ludlow parish church is well known for its surviving medieval glass, even the historian of medieval stained glass Jean Lafond described the Great West Window as being ‘of considerable historic interest’.
The window depicts the history of Ludlow and its place in British history, and includes portraits of royalty and nobility, alongside symbols of regal, ecclesiastical and civic authority, and the heraldic arms of the donor, Beriah Botfield, then serving his second term as MP for Ludlow.
Artist/maker notes
Thomas Willement (1786-1871) was a writer on heraldry as well as a leading stained glass artist. He built on his father’s success and connection to become successively heraldic artist to George IV and ‘artist in stained glass to Queen Victoria’. In the process he became a key figure in the move away from the enamel painted glass of the eighteenth century, to the revival of traditional medieval techniques of leaded glass.
Sources:
‘Willement, Thomas (1786–1871)’, by S.A. Shepherd , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004.
Stained Glass and the Victorian Gothic Revival by Jim Cheshire (Manchester University Press, 2004)
Other comments
This is an astounding medieval church with an exceptional range of medieval stained glass, including a Tree of Jesse (Lady Chapel, c1330), unique Creed and Commandments windows, magnificent Annunciation or Golden window, and Palmers’ window, commemorating the local Palmers’ Guild (all in the chapel of St John the Evangelist, with much of the original fifteenth century glass).
The nineteenth and twentieth century windows present an equally interesting insight into the history of Ludlow as their medieval counterparts. Of particular note being two north aisle windows by the Arts and Crafts artist Louis Davis, 1912 and 1928.