The Stained Glass in St. Mary's

There is some interesting stained glass in St. Mary the Virgin, Belchamp Walter. The majority is of Victorian nature but there is also some Flemish glass to be found in the Saxon shaped window in the Chancel.

On this page I will feature some close-ups of some of the windows. Of course, the best way to see them is to visit. This page and associated website should enhance your visit with more information and a background.

Some of the details on the stained glass is not easy to see without a step-ladder or lots of light and a really long lens. As such some of the images on this page have some parallax errors.

West wall of tower

Of the Victorian glass the most interesting, I think, is located in the West wall of the tower in what is now the vestry.

Below is the top tier of the window on the West wall of the tower.
The dedication reads:
"This window is erected in effection to Samuel Milbank Raymond and Sarah his wife by their son J.M.St.Clere Raymond clerk and as a thank offering to God for the blessing of good affectionate parents 1857".

Here we see Sarah, wife of Abraham - The Virgin Mary - St. Anne, the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus.

JMSR was the Great Great Grandfather of the present owner of Belchamp Hall. Samuel Milbank the Great Great Great Grandfather. The use of the word "clerk" is also strange.

Below is close-up of John the Baptist, to see the complete West window click on the image. This section of the window was substituted for a rose window in the film Downtown Abbey a New Era.

Windows in the Nave

The windows in the Nave are just plain glass with only a suggestion of dedication. The exception to this is the group of windows set into the remains of the chantry chapel arch.

The left two sections depict Jubal and King David, both Old Testament and not common in a Christian Church.

The 4 sections in the Chantry arch are dedicated to George Washington Brownlow and inserted by Samuel John St. Clere Raymond. The likely date is post 1893, the date of SJSR's father (JMSR) death

The Chancel

The glass above the altar is quite pleasant and receives the morning sunlight casting a rainbow onto the family memorial on the North wall of the Chancel.

The grouping above the altar and reredos is dedicated to Samuel and Magaretta Raymond and Philip Honywood (the 2nd).

There are some interesting details but the window is best viewed in the morning when the sun is in the South and East.

The inscription/dedication says:
"This window was inserted to whe honour and glory of God and in pious rememberance of
The Rev'd Samuel Raymond Margaretta Raymond his wife Philip Honywood Raymond"

The window was installed as part of the 1859 renovations. The sponsor for this was J.M.St. Clere (as was the window in the tower). The dedications are to two different generations of Samuels, the Chancel window is to Samuel (d. 1825) and Margaretta (d. 1848), the tower Samuel Milbank (d. 1863) and Sarah [nee Cooke](m. 1808.)

The window with the Flemish Stained glass is in the North Wall and set in a Saxon/Romanesque opening.

The Magi window

Another from the window on the South Wall of the Chancel with a dedication plaque below. I have segmented this window into 3 to show the detail. The stained glass looks quite modern and posibily a replacement for an earlier Vistorian. The window is interesting as it have a "Holy Trinty" at its top.

The main theme of the window appears to be of the celebration of the Magi. The features of Mary (or possibly Joseph) seem to be too contemporary. The two of the three figures appear figures seem to be holding containers that may be gold frankinsense or mrhrr. There could be what is supposed to be a crib/manger and there appears to be something in swaddling.

Below is a motif:

The text saying: "The grass withereth the flower fadeth: but the word of our GOD shall stand!

There is a memorial plaque below the window above that is not easy to read. It appears to be a dedication to the third son of Samuel Milbank Raymond and Sarah his wife, this was Oliver --- who died in Paris the 2nd day of June 1857 Aged 38 Years. (H3 on the Freer Family tree. H1 is Samuel William and H2 is John Mayne St. Clere Raymond - the Freer tree records an age of 41 [b. 1816 d. 1857])

The use of old English letters, particulaly the capitals, is strange and the meaning is not exactly clear. I am presuming it was to the son of Samuel and Sarah and not them. Samuel Milbank died 1863 and Sarah (Cooke, of Preston near Lavenham, Suffolk - date of death unknown). The Freer family tree has an Oliver dying in 1857 but he makes no mention of Paris, and would have made this Oliver 41 at the time of his death.

The Window with the shells and the Griffins

Here we have two panels the left has a crest of what appears to be of the Villiers (Earl of Clarendon) and a yet undentified crest with the heads of what maybe wyverns.

The right "panel" is similar to Roger la Zouche d. 1285

I have a theory about the origin of the griffin motif. The other panel of this window has what I think is the Tyrrell coat of arms - a double black chevron.

The window on the right. Clarendon, Villiers or Lambourne - Tyrell

The Hon. William viscount Villiers, 1705 (Earl of Clarendon) is mentioned in Hasted's Kent as being in Queen Anne's 4th parliament. This would make some sense of the stained glass in St. Mary's as the current hall was built at that time (1720) in the Queen Anne Style.

John Raymond III died in 1720 and Queen Anne's reign was 1701/2 to 1714.

Dates are off here!

Sarah

According to Wikipedia Sarah is either the wife or half-sister of Abraham.

The East Window