Church of St Margaret, Horsmonden, Kent
Address
Church of St Margaret, Brick Kiln Lane, Horsmonden, Tonbridge, Kent TN12 8EJRecommended by
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East windowArtist, maker and date
Designed by Rosemary Everett and made at Lowndes & Drury, 1946Reason for highlighting
Rosemary Everett is not well-known and her body of work is not extensive, but her stunning windows demonstrate the imaginative potential of post-war English stained glass. The east window depicts the crucifixion in a symbolic arrangement.
It is matched by the west window (1948) of Christ in Glory. As with the east window, it is full of colour and movement.
Artist/maker notes
Rosemary Kathleen Everett (1916-98) was the daughter of Sir William Smith-Marriott. She is best known by her work, either here or, on a smaller scale, at the church of St Mary the Virgin, Little Wakering, Essex
Sources:
Church Guide
Buildings of England Essex by James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner (Yale University Press, 2007)
Lowndes & Drury was formed in 1897, by the artist Mary Lowndes (1857-1929) and the craftsman Alfred John Drury (1868-1940), with the aim of providing facilities for independent artists to design and make stained glass windows. They moved from cramped conditions in Chelsea to newly purpose-built premises, The Glass House, in 1906. The firm continued after the founders’ deaths, under Alfred Drury’s son, Victor, until he retired in the early 1970s. However, The Glass House premises continued in use under Carl Edwards and subsequently his daughter, Caroline Benyon, until she moved her studio to Hampton in 1992.
Source: The Journal of Stained Glass, Vol. XLI, 2017
Other comments
Particularly notable amongst the church’s other windows is one at the west end of the south aisle, from 1910, by the Danish nobleman, Arild von Rosenkrantz (1870-1964). In addition to his work in stained glass, Rosenkrantz was active as a painter, sculptor and illustrator.