St. Nicholas’ Church at Moreton
article & photos by Pamela Green
W
hilst travelling through Dorset, my husband
Michael, and I came across Moreton Church.
We had heard of the glass church at Moreton, but
did not know what to expect, and we were
amazed at what we found. a Christmas tree in the centre panel and two candles
with twisted ribbon around them - beautiful.
First and foremost the church is a place of worship for
the villagers of Morteton, but people come from far
and wide to see the amazing carved glass windows. Windows one to three are ribbons twisted around ten
candles carrying words from the Bible, about light
and darkness.
The history books say the church was built around
1190. It originally had plain glass windows. Around
1848 the windows were replaced with stained glass,
but on October 8th 1940 at 9pm a bomb fell in the
church yard, destroying most of the church. It was
rebuilt in 1950, and was visited by the architectural
historian Howard Colvin. On hearing that the
parishioners disliked the plain glass windows, he
suggested they invite Sir Laurence Whistler to design
and engrave new ones, which he did, and today those
windows are still in tact and they are amazing. The Seasonal Windows has the sun, and circling it are
four bubbles depicting spring, summer, autumn and
winter.
Between 1955 and 1987 Laurence Whistler designed
twelve beautiful windows. My favourite window has
26
The central window has a ten foot high cross, and a
panel either side with candles and ribbons.
In 1975 Whistler engraved the Dream of the Rod
window depicting light and darkness.
The Trinity Chapel window has themes, fruitfulness
in sunlight, in groups of three, blossom, insect-life,
and animal-life, expanded under strokes of sun and
rain.
The Lightning window is a view of a map showing
the River Frome, flowing close to the church, with a
fireball showing the position of the church.
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