Stained Glass Windows

The Stained Glass Windows at Holy Trinity Southport

One of the best modern (early 20th century) windows here is the ‘Greenwood Memorial’ in the North transept. This represents the teaching of the ‘Collect’ for All Saints Day and, the mystical union of ‘Christ and the Church’. The central figure of Jesus as Priest and King is surrounded by rays of Glory and a vesical of cherubim and a dove, with ‘Agnus Dei’ (O Lamb of God) inscribed above. Below are figures of the Blessed Virgin and St. John looking to Heaven. The branches of a tree are spread over the window enveloping ten apostles, bishops, saints and martyrs. The Crucifixion is depicted at the bottom and an angel with incense on the top. The ‘Lady Chapel’ contains a scheme of four windows by A. J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild, and one, dating to 1917, features ‘Sir Galahad’s Vision of the Holy Grail’, and is in memory of Fred Loveridge and Robert Knowles, both killed at Festubert, France, May 1915 – the first battle of which was a baptism of fire for hundreds of soldiers from the Southport vicinity, many of them attached to the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment. One of the stained glass is an impressive First World War window by Barrowclough & Sanders, a memorial to Southport’s Lieutenant Eric Arthur Walton Wood, a 2nd Lieutenant in the 9th Btn. Of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment who was killed, aged just 20, in action at Ypres, Flanders, on 25 February 1916. Eric, who was buried at Spoilbank Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, in Belgium, was the son of Dr Arthur Wood, J.P., of 40 Hoghton Street.

The Wilhelmina Geddes Window

The most impressive window – the Jewel in the Crown of ‘Holy Trinity’s stained glass windows – is considered by many to be the 1914 representation of the ‘Annunciation’ by Wilhelmina Geddes of An Tur Gloine (d.1955), therefore dubbed the ‘Wilhelmina Geddes Window.’
The North Wall Window is in memory of Charles and Constance Jackson; if you look above and below in the panels you will see two different signs of the Trinity. Below the two scenes are written: ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ and ‘He ascended into Heaven.’ Others include one on the north aisle depicting ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ by H. G. Hiller (1927); and on the north transept is a Powells window with their version of ‘Christ in Glory’. North-East Side – The Lady Chapel The Galahad (or ‘Festubert’) Window (Loveridge-Knowles)

Beauty and Story

The stained glass windows at Holy Trinity Church are an intrinsic part of the beauty and majesty of the building, and that’s now official because one of the windows is being featured in a book out this year.

How to Look at Stained Glass, by Jane Brocket, is available on Amazon from the Spring priced £12.99.

The book explains, “The magical qualities of stained glass have an enduring appeal, but church windows tend to be ignored as a form of creative and artistic expression. How to Look at Stained Glass is a fresh, unstuffy guide, which explores the medium by themes, patterns, designs, and effects. Using an A-Z format to reveal a multitude of fascinating details – all the way from apples to zig-zags – it makes looking at gloriously colourful, artistically important windows entertaining and rewarding. This layman’s guide requires no previous historical, artistic or religious knowledge and the A-Z miscellany is in keeping with the pot-luck mix of windows to be found in most churches.”

One of Holy Trinity’s treasures is the Annunciation (Luke 1. 26-38). Below the main panel are two scenes from the Old Testament foreshadowing the coming of Christ and surmounting the whole is the Christ-Child himself. The window is only one of six in England by the Irish designer Wilhelmina Geddes, who died in 1955. Pop along and have a look, we’re often open!