East Window - Images and History

The design depicts in the five vertical lights the "Spread of The Holy Spirit" from Pentecost to the present day and in the two tracery windows, the final triumph of The Church of Christ - The consummation of The Spirit's activity.

Dominating the whole window in the upper half of the three centre lights is shown Pentecost, the Holy Spirit symbolised in the form of a Dove being surrounded by the twelve Disciples, each having on his forehead 'a cloven tongue like as of fire' (Acts 2.1-4).

The Disciples are shown with an upper room - traditionally the scene of the last supper - and in the background are the roofs and towers of Jerusalem. As a number of our Lord's followers are gathered together, the Eucharist is in their midst, for again traditionally the descent of the Holy Spirit was at a time when the Disciples were gathered for Communion.

The rays of Glory and Power that spread from the Holy Dove reach through the design into the five lights of the window, the two left handed lights depicting the Church in the West, the centre light the Church in Africa, and the two right handed lights the Church in the East.

Click on specific parts of the East Window for more details...

Church in The West

The early days of the Church in our own land are represented by the figure of St. Augustine of Canterbury who stands vested in cape and mitre against the Bell Harry Tower of Canterbury Cathedral.

The Church of our own times is portrayed by a typical grey stoned church (rather like St. James') against which stands an Anglican priest, chalice in hand and wearing a red stole - another link with St. James who was a martyr.

The window would remind us, however, that our Christian lives are not lived in isolation, but that the Holy Spirit is meant to permeate every department of life and so surrounding these reminders of the church in our land are various symbols depicting everyday life. Factory chimneys, a pit shaft and miners head, a block of flats and a Kentish garden complete with oast house are used with good effect in this way. Standing on the cliffs in the left hand light with the famous ship "Mayflower" behind him is a Pilgrim Father, Bible in hand, looking westward across the seas to the Americas, symbolising the Spirit's ever-widening movement into the western hemisphere.

The Church in Africa

A similar treatment is used in the central light to depict the Church of former days and of today in Africa.

The early Church of that continent is represented by St. Augustine of Hippo who is surrounded by various symbols of African life and amongst other things clearly seen are Moroccan and Zulu heads, mud huts and palm trees, a Zulu shield, a shaft from the gold mines of the Transvaal and a miner drilling into the rock.

The prominent position given to the African priest in the centre of the whole window, surely reminds us that all are one in Christ Jesus and that there can be no apartheid within the Christian Church.

Above the typical African church with it's thatched roof can be seen the somewhat modernistic lines of a reddish brown building - a reminder that a new era is dawning in Africa, for this is the Cathedral Church of Onitsha in Nigeria, still in progress of building.

The incorporation of this feature in the window is interesting since the window was actually made in the centenary of the Niger mission to the Church Missionary Society.

The Church in The East

To the right of the African light we see the Church in India with St. Thomas in a corresponding position to the two Augustines., since by tradition he first took the Gospel to India, founding in South India the church that still bears his name - the Mar-Thoma Church.

Features of Indian life include a snowcapped peak, an elephant and a tiger and an Indian head, while in the foreground a priest of the Church of South India stands before Domakal Cathedral.

This reference to the Church of South India is particularly pleasing, since from formation of this united church in 1947 is surely one of the greatest works of the Spirit in our own day.

In the right-hand light standing on what might well be the shores of China and looking across the China Sea to Japan, represented by a green island is St. Francis Xavier who first took the Gospel to Japan in the year 1550 at the end of one of the most amazing missionary voyages in history.

Tracery Windows

In the top tracery opening is a figure of Christ in Glory. This stained glass is all that remains of the East Window which was destroyed by enemy action during the 1939-1945 war.

The two lower traceries depict the new Jerusalem from the Revelation of St. John the Divine (chapters 21-22). We read that "the city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass" and the artist has endeavoured, by restricting his use of colour, to depict the walls and gates of the city in their splendour. In the left window is seen "a pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" and flowing through the midst of the city. And this is carried on in the right hand tracery where also in the midst of the city stands "the tree of life," the leaves of which, we are told, are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22.1-2). In this way the final triumph of the Church is symbolised and the world-wide spread of the Spirit is consummated in eternal Glory.

The window which was installed in March 1960, was designed by Mr. Francis H Spear, A.R.C.A, of Reigate and made in his studio at Coulsdon, Surrey. Associated with Mr. Spear in this work was Mr. George G Pace, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A., Chartered Architect of York