Blennerhassett Family Tree
Genealogy one-name study      by Bill Jehan
   Introduction      History      BH Glass at Nowton
 
photos on this page: BJ
  
PAINTED GLASS WINDOWS
 
Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knight
Monumental Brass of 1531 at Frenze,
 represented as one of four
painted glass panels of date 1820
 
 with other fine painted glass at
 
St Peter's Church, Nowton
near Bury St Edmunds, Co.Norfolk
Church of England
 Diocese of Norwich
click on image to enlarge
West Window at Nowton Church, Norfolk
west window
 
 
 

 
 
 
The church of St Peter, Nowton is known for 84 Flemish painted glass roundels of the 17th and 18th centuries that are incorporated into the windows.  In 1820 these roundels were set within new glass panels, reputedly the work of Samuel Yarington of Norwich (above right is the magnificent west window - click on image to enlarge).  A brass tablet in the church tells us: 
This Church
was embellished & decorated with Painted Glass,
collected from the Monasteries at Brussels.
an Organ erected, with a Peal of Six Bells.
at the Expense & Gift of
Orbell Ray Oakes, Esqr
The inhabitants inscribe this tablet as a memorial of his liberality.
1820.  
 
 
 
 
Four vertical windows, two on each side of the nave, were found to be too tall for the available glass to fit well.  When the window panels were being made four small glass panes were inserted horizontally, one at the base of each window, these painted with images taken from Norfolk monumental brasses as illustrated c1816 by the drawings of John Sell Cotman. Three of the four 1820 panes of glass survive, including that for Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knight, 1531.

 
 
photo: BJ
 
 
St Peter's Church, Nowton, Norfolk
 
 
 
Sir Thomas Blenerhasset Knt, Frense Ch. Norf'k
Drawn, Etched & Published by J.S.Cotman, Yar[mouth] 1816
 

 
etching of 1816 by John Sell Cotman
from an earlier drawing before July 1814
(pub. in “Sepulchral Brasses of Norfolk & Suffolk”, 2 vols, 1839)

of monumental portrait brass on the tomb of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knt (d.27-June-1531)
at the church of St.Andrew the Apostle, Frenze, Norfolk
[COTMAN vol.1, frontispiece plate 63, description p.35]
 
Cotman's 1816 etching of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knight, 1531
 as reproduced on
 a small horizontal insert of painted glass
 in a window at St Peter's Church, Nowton,
 near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
 (inserted as a filler at the bottom
 of window 2, north wall)
 
image shown is rotated anti-clockwise 90o
 
refer to "Brass on Glass" [BOG]
by Jane Houghton and Janet Whitham
published in Monumental Brass Society 
Bulletin Sept.2010, No.115, pp.294-295

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
the accompanying brass for his
wife Margaret who d.1416 is
not represented in glass 
  
Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knt d.1531
 
 
see above
  
Sir Ralph Shelton, Knight d.1424
 
 
The helm behind his head was not on the original brass - this has been added to the glass, copied from the helm of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett, Knt c1531 (see window 2)
Alice Shelton, nee Uvedale,
wife of Sir Ralph Snoring.
 
 clear glass - original painted glass is lost
 
 
window 1 - in south wall
window 2 - in north wall opposite window 1
window 3 - in south wall
window 4 - in north wall opposite window 3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The brasses depicted in these four window panels are featured in "Brass on Glass" [BOG] by Jane Houghton and Janet Whitham
published in Monumental Brass Society Bulletin No.115, September 2010, pp.294-295
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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