Letter to the Editor – East Windows of St Margaret’s and Stanford Rivers

Dear Editor,

It was good to see the East windows of Greensted and Stanford Rivers in the last magazine, and I thought I would add a little more information about them.

The window at Greensted is Victorian and was created by Nathaniel Westlake, a renowned and skilled stained glass artist. The scene depicts the Last Supper with each disciple having a different patterned halo, except Judas who does not have one but carries a bag of silver. The women are shown in medieval costume. The date of the window coincides with the restoration at the time of the Reverend Philip Ray.

Landing in an adjacent field, a bomb removed the glass in Stanford Rivers. The present window was given by the Millbank family in memory of Henry William Millbank, my grandfather, who died in 1950. He was church warden for 44 years. The design shows the central figure of the Good Shepherd. On the left, St Margaret of Scotland kneels holding her crown in obeisance; she is the church's patron saint. On the right kneels St Walstan, a patron saint of farmers, with a calf and a scythe; there are only two churches in Essex depicting this saint. Beneath are St Edward the Confessor, the Good Shepherd giving his life for his sheep, and Caedmon who had charge of the horses at St Hilda's monastery at Whitby. All the glass had a special meaning to my grandfather. The window was dedicated on June 22d 1950 by my father, The Very Reverend George Martin.

The stories in stained glass give us an insight into the area and people at the time.

Yours sincerely,

Anne Brooks