This is a curious and unverifiable story. In about 1870, Jonathan Lewis of Water End Farm, Bobbingworth emigrated to Nelson in New Zealand, taking with him two small stained glass panels. According to their previous owner, they had been removed from Greensted church some time before the Rev. Phillip Ray’s restoration of 1848. Mr Lewis’s original intention had been to present these to a church in New Zealand but, after an exchange of correspondence with the Rev G. F. Barlow of Chelmsford, it was agreed that the two panels should be returned to Greensted church. The package containing the glass began its repatriation from Nelson in October 1870 on the Challenger, but unfortunately the ship failed to reach its destination in London. A report from the Scilly Isles indicated that the Challenger of London, coming from Malden Island in the Pacific, had sunk at latitude 48N, longitude 13W, on 14 May 1871 and, though all her crew were saved, her entire cargo, including the package containing the stained glass, had been lost.
Before their dispatch from New Zealand, photographs of the two panels had been sent to the Rev. Barlow. Drawings were made from these by the Chelmsford architect Wykeham Chancellor and published in the Essex Review in 1894. A somewhat fanciful Anglo-Saxon date was attached to them by the New Zealand correspondent but Chancellor’s opinion was that the panels were from a sixteenth century German or Flemish workshop. One carried the inscription ‘Ohne Jhu, esto nucht’ (derived from St John xv, 5: ‘for without me you can do nothing’), the other the letters ‘TE’ linked with an intertwining cord.
If the coordinates of the sinking are correct, the ship foundered far out to sea in the Atlantic and these two small panels stained glass must be permanently lost. It also remains an open question whether the oral tradition that they had come from Greensted church was correct.
Postscript:
Following on from Michael’s article, the Essex Review published a further article regarding the stained glass.
Greensted Church. In vol.iii, p.135, of the Essex Review for 1894, are two illustrations of old stained glass from Greensted Church, carried to New Zealand and lost at sea. One of these has a roundel encircling a Tau Cross (T) bearing an inscribed label round its stem, said to be ‘Ohne itm, Esto nucht,’ which means, says the writer, ‘Without it (i.e. without Him who suffered thereon), is nothing, to be done or effected (S. John xv.5.) The motto is Anglo Saxon….G.H.J.
Surely there was never a wider guess.
More than 20 years ago, when the Essex Archaeological Society met at Greensted church, a coloured drawing of this glass was handed round, but nobody present could interpret its meaning. I did get an opportunity of seeing it till the company was dispersed from the very small sacristy, but I saw in a moment what the whole meant, and was greatly amused at the wild guessing. Some said that it appeared to be German, for there was the word ‘ohne’ (without), and I suppose that the ‘nucht’ was taken to stand for ‘nichts,’ for the ‘nothing.’
This is the interpretation thereof, unless I am greatly mistaken. ‘Bone Jhu Esto mihi (or michi) Jhu.’ (O good Jesus, be Thou a Saviour to me.) The capital B, not very clearly painted, looked somewhat like a rosette. I had forgotten all about this incident till the E. R. brought it back to my mind.
In the north-east chapel of the magnificent church of St.Mary, Bury St Edmunds, lies a slab (c. A.D. 1500), bearing a brass shield that I have copied many times, and of which I have a rubbing. This shield displays a Tau Cross with this same inscribed label adorning it, similar to the E.R. sketch, which I think proves my case and appears to draw Greensted and Bury St Edmunds still closer together.
Arthur H. Brown, Brentwood.
Essex Review, Volume 3, page 135 (1894)
Essex Review , Volume 23, pages 45-46 (1913)
The Cross of Tau, named after the Greek letter it resembles, is suspected to have originated with the Egyptians. It has been a symbol to many cultures before Christianity, including a mention in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. It has been adopted by Christianity as a representation of the Cross.