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Fairford Church Windows

Church Window: 1 | 2 & 3 | 4 & 5 | 6 & 7 | 8 & 9 | 10 to 13 | 14 to 16 | 17 to 20 | 21 to 24 | 25 to 28 |

Window 6: (Deposition, Entombment and Harrowing)

1. The descent from the Cross. Joseph of Arimathaea, his left hand on the ladder, bears down from the cross the limp body of Christ on his right arm. Nicodemus stands ready to receive the sacred burden.

2. The entombment. The body of Christ is lowered into a stone coffin. At the head stands Joseph, at the foot Nicodemus.

3. Christ rescues Adam and Eve from hell and proclaims the good news to imprisoned souls (The Harrowment of Hell). One soul, still impenitent, is seen behind red hot bars. Above, three angels holding swords and shields attack two fiends one with cloven hoofs and one winged like a bat.

Detail from Light 1: Christ's Head

Detail from Light 2: Christ's Head

Detail from Light 3: A soul behind Red Hot Bars

The Main Lights: Resurrection Morning (above)

Christ and possibly Princess Mary (above)

Window 7: Resurrection Morning

From left to right:
1. & 2. A tradition, not recorded in the four gospels, says that the Risen Christ came first to visit His Mother. Here she is seen very early on Easter morning coming from her bedroom in great joy.

3. This is the central light, like the one in the Lady Chapel, is out of chronological order. It shows the Transfiguration, a glimpse of bringing together heaven and earth. Above is Christ transfigured before Peter, James and John. Beneath Him on one side is Elijah and on the other Moses holding the tables of stone on which is written the first sentence of the Creed.

4. & 5. The holy women leaving the garden tomb are met by Christ. In conventional dress are Mary Magdalene with a jar of spices and Mary, the mother of Jesus (in blue); nearest to the Lord is a figure in Tudor court dress. It has been suggested that this figure commemorates the wife of John Tame but it is probably a hidden portrait of Princess Mary, daughter of Henry VII.

Window 7, Light 3 Detail

Detail from Light 3 (above)

Christ Visits Mary (above)

The Transfiguration (above)

Before 1870 about 8% of the original glass had been lost. It was replaced in 1889-90 by stippled glass. In 1996, during cleaning and repair, new stained glass was installed. In the centre light Christ has a new nimb, head and shoulders and right hand. In lights 1 & 2 most of the third panel from the bottom was replaced with perfectly matching glass Christ’s left hand, his body and loin cloth, the shaft of his cross and his and Mary’s robe. The face of Christ and of Mary had been broken and repaired with thin leads, now the parts have been edge glued. In the right hand two lights the stippled glass in the right side of Christ’s robe has been replaced with matching glass.

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