The Stained Glass Museum is holding a Study Day and Picnic on Friday 7 June. Departing from Ely at 9.30am, the visit will include four churches along the Norfolk and Suffolk border, all of which have splendid stained glass windows, and return to Ely approximately 6pm.
The first point of call will be the Church of St Mary, West Tofts, which is in the Norfolk Battle Training Area and normally closed to the public. This is a rare opportunity to see the medieval church, modified by A.W.N. Pugin. It is also a chance to celebrate the role that The Stained Glass Museum has played in the preservation of our stained glass heritage. In 1982 several nineteenth-century stained glass panels, designed by Pugin and made by Hardman & Co., were acquired by the Museum on long-term loan from the church, for safekeeping. Having formed part of the Museum’s main display for over twenty-five years, they were returned to West Tofts in 2010, where they have been recently reinstalled.
Fig. 1. Detail from a Hugh Easton RAF memorial window at Elveden.
The second stop will be St Andrew & St Patrick’s Church, Elveden, a medieval church considerably enlarged in the late-nineteenth-century by W.D. Caröe and paid for by Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh empire, who (despite his exile and the removal of his sovereignty) is famous for being friend to Queen Victoria. Both Duleep Singh and the church’s current patrons, the Iveagh’s, were keen patrons of stained glass artists in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The church contains spectacular windows by Charles Eamer Kempe, Frank Brangwyn, Hugh Easton, and Lawrence Lee.
Then a picnic will be had at West Stow Country Park. There are toilets and a café here too, if the weather is bad.
After lunch there will be a trip to All Saints’ Church, Icklingham, a beautiful Grade I listed fourteenth-century church with thatched roof, extant medieval tiles and some fourteenth-century stained glass panels.
The final visit is to the Church of St Ethelbert, Herringswell. This small village church was rebuilt in the 1870s by Arthur Blomfield. The highlights here are the Arts and Crafts stained glass windows, several by Christopher Whall and his pupils Paul Woodroffe, Selwyn Image, James Clarke (of Clarke & Dix), and Jasper Brett. Many commemorate members of the Davies family.
Joining Instructions
The coach will depart from Ely Cathedral at 9.30am (meet at west porch), and return approximately 6pm. Due to parking difficulties and security restrictions at West Tofts, transport will be by one coach and private cars will not be able to join separately.
Parking in Ely
Ely is accessible by train, but information about long stay car parks in the city can be found on this website. Free all day parking (after 08.30) is available at Barton Road, a short walk from the Cathedral.
Cost: £25 (£20 for Friends of the Museum) This price includes the coach fare and site notes. But bring your own picnic! The tour will be led by Jasmine Allen and Chloë Cockerill.
Tickets available from The Stained Glass Museum, The South Triforium, Ely Cathedral, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4DL. To book tickets by post, please make cheques payable to ‘The Stained Glass Museum’ and send email address or enclose SAE for confirmation of booking. For more information, or to pay by card, please phone 01353 660347, or email: friends@stainedglassmuseum.com
