Talk:St Stephen's Church, Moulton

The Millennium Window, St Stephen the Martyr, Moulton
The background and development of the idea

A community funded project, instigated by the Parish Council and embraced by the Church, to install a stained glass window centrally on the south side of the church to commemorate and celebrate the new millennium. Ray Bradley ARCA FMGP a noted stained glass designer and lecturer at the Chelsea College of Art and Design was commissioned to design and construct the window. He has incorporated ideas from original work produced by the Children of Moulton School’s Year 5 (1999) in his design.

The initial development involved pupils from the Moulton School, who studied the existing stained glass windows, with their teacher, Mrs. Christine Thomas & Rev Stephen Wilson. Mr. Arthur Birchall, a local resident, with experience of designing and making stained glass windows, also gave the children some background on its history and production techniques.

The Year 5 children, ‘children of the millennium’, were old enough to understand the concept, produce ideas and were able to follow the project in the summer term in 2000.

They produced 17 completed paintings, which contained a variety of images based on the Nativity as described in the gospels of St Matthew and St Luke. The Nativity was considered to be the most appropriate theme for the millennium window, since it is 2000 years since the birth of Christ, it also complements the other Christo-centric stained glass windows in the church. A suggestion that there may also be some reference to the local environment brought other images to some pupils’ pictures.

Ray Bradley was commissioned to design the final window. The main drive of his inspiration was derived from the children’s work. He has been able to select specific elements and ideas from different individual works and give them the unity of single authorship. The originators will probably their contributions to the overall concept and its composite parts.

The Design Development and Proposal

Although the majority of my work for the church has been produced using symbolic iconography, the chosen Nativity theme, the children’s work and earlier stated preferences have led me to develop a primarily figurative design.

The design is primarily figurative and endeavours to present the images in a way which parallels the directness of the children’s expression, without trying to emulate their work. The drawing is fairly basic and two-dimensional; which is also sympathetic to the medium. The design for the window contains a sequence of related events, which are intended to operate as one image seen in a single moment. The window is treated as a triptych with central and flanking lights.

The central light contains the Christ Child lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes and protected from the night sky by the roof of a stable, for there was no room at the inn. The Blessed Virgin Mary and Joseph are in attendance - the Holy Family. The infant Jesus is depicted within a central beam of light which links with the guiding star above, the celestial to the terrestrial, and places Him in another dimension. He is shown lying in a manger but the image is projected into a position, which also alludes to him enthroned in glory, as depicted in the east window. The structure of the manger incorporates his sign (X,P) and an indication of a cross conveys the promise of his ultimate sacrifice.

From this central image ambers, golds and whites suggest a radiant light emanating from him, the Light of the World, which is complimented and amplified by the southerly aspect of the window. The figures of Mary and Joseph are portrayed as broken silhouettes as are the figures of the wise men and shepherds in the other lights, seen as if through a haze caused by the bright light, which permeates the total image of the window.

The left hand, east, light amplified by the rising sun, infers the origins of the wise men’s’ journey through a mountainous and arid landscape, bearing gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh. The landscape becomes more hospitable in the lower section suggesting the successful accomplishment of their journey and a river flowing between the two outer lights infers the potential of Christian baptism and also associates with the local River Weaver included in several of the children’s works.

The right hand light contains the shepherds under a night sky but lit by an accentuated white light to represent the Angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord that shone around them as they were informed of the birth of the Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David depicted on the horizon. The hint of a more arable landscape in this light also alludes to the surrounding areas of Moulton and there are three trees to represent the Trinity, as found in a number of the pupil’s paintings. In the outer and lower corner of the left hand light, the badge of Moulton Primary School is reproduced. In a similar position opposite is the seal of Moulton Parish Council.