Horwood Brothers, Walk to Emmaus, south nave window (1860), Church of St Nicholas, Cholderton, Wiltshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Horwood Brothers, the widow's mite, south nave window (1858-59), Church of St Nicholas, Cholderton, Wiltshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Church of St Nicholas, Cholderton, Wiltshire

Address

Church of St Nicholas, Cholderton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 0DW

Recommended by

Jeff Hopewell (10)

Highlight

Scheme of six windows on the north and south sides of the nave and anti-chapel

Artist, maker and date

Horwood Brothers, 1858-1860

Reason for highlighting

The windows bring a satisfying unity to the main body of the church. Most of the designs, including that of the Widow’s mite, have similar features and may be the work of Henry Stacy Marks, who was freelancing for Clayton and Bell in the late 1850s. This was a period when Clayton and Bell did not have their own workshop and got their windows made by other firms, including the Horwood Brothers. It is possible that Clayton and Bell introduced Stacy Marks to the Horwoods. One scene, however, that of Jesus and the two disciples at Emmaus, seems to be by another designer since Jesus sports ringlets rather than the ‘leonine’ hairstyle that is in evidence elsewhere. It was probably later in the history of the firm that the Horwoods started to design their own windows.

Other comments

The building of the church, which replaced a much smaller one, was driven by the Revd Thomas Mozley. He was a fellow of Oriel College and the church has the feel of an Oxford College chapel. As a result the body of the church is quite narrow, so that on a sunny day the Horwood windows on the south side create a spectacular colour wash on the north wall.

The Horwood windows completed the glazing of the church, which had begun in 1850 with east and west windows by Michael O’Connor, and two chancel windows by Charles Clutterbuck, the latter unfortunately suffering from paint loss.

There are excellent notes on the building of the church by Brigadier Michael Clarke MBE on the church website.

Artist/maker notes

Horwood Brothers was in business for about 40 years from 1856. They were based initially in Mells and later in Frome, Somerset. Their work is typical of a regional firm of the period and is mainly to be found in Somerset and Wiltshire though they did carry out commissions elsewhere in England, Wales, Ireland and overseas.

Of the three Horwood brothers, Edwin (1834-92), Harry (1838-1917) and Mark (1840-1904), Harry is particularly notable for the considerable success he enjoyed in North America, where he is still remembered via the Horwood Stained Glass Museum

Highlighted dates at this location

1858-60 (Go to date search)