Church of St Mary, Elland, West Yorkshire
Address
Church of St Mary, Church Street, Elland, HX5 0RURecommended by
Highlight
East windowArtist, maker and date
The work of medieval glaziers c.1481, restored by William Wailes with interpolations, 1856-66Reason for highlighting
Stunning fifteenth century east window originally containing twenty-one scenes depicting the Life of the Virgin Mary. By the 1850s the window was in a very poor state, with the bottom row containing the donors and their shields lost. It was restored by William Wailes, who created eleven new panels, some of which deviated from the original iconographic scheme by depicting scenes from the Life of Christ, and added to the remaining panels to varying degrees.
A very nice Ascension scene in the top row in the centre shows the disappearing feet of Christ, vanishing from the top of the panel. A wonderfully dressed kneeling Mary appears at the front.
Despite the loss of glass here it cannot have all been for ideological reasons, for the Assumption of Mary survives, as well as several other scenes which are not from the Bible but wider tradition or pseudepigraphal writings. Amongst these are scenes of Mary’s parents and Mary’s own birth.
Artist/maker notes
William Wailes was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he established a stained glass business in 1838. The business was highly successful with an enormous output that can be seen throughout the country. Soon becoming, along with Hardman, the largest provincial studio. Wailes’s son in law, Thomas Rankin Strang (1835-99) became a partner in 1861 and as Wailes & Strang the firm continued to make stained glass until the first world war.
Sources:
Victorian Stained Glass by Martin Harrison (London : Barrie & Jenkins, 1980)
William Wailes on Wikipedia
Other comments
There is much other nice Victorian glass by Wailes and Hardman, and some further medieval fragments here. A beautiful village church.