Stained glass
Great Malvern Priory has the largest collection of English 15th century stained glass…
of any parish church in England.
It’s an extraordinary, unique, survival, through turbulent centuries, of incredible craftsmanship.
The 15th and 16th centuries were said to be the zenith of English stained glass. But there is a great variety to be seen as well. Although the largest windows are glazed with mediaeval glass, there is Victorian glass in the north aisle and modern glass in The Friends' Millennium windows.
The east window
The east window is the largest in any parish church in England. The west window was given to the Priory by Richard lll when he was still Duke of Gloucester in the early 1480s. Originally called the 'doom' window, it depicted the day of Judgement.
Imagine worshipping in the Priory with the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ depicted in front of you in the great east window and the day of judgement lit up behind you in the west window.
The west window
All of the mediaeval windows suffered over the course of time.
In the 19th century the west window was re-glazed with pictures of angels, saints and bishops using mediaeval glass from other windows in the Priory.
The photo shows, from left to right, St Laurence, St George and St Christopher under the image of the Lord above.
Detail of the west window
The other royal donation was the so-called 'Magnificat' window in the north transept.
This was given in 1501 by Henry VII and besides depicting scenes from Mary's life, it contains the words (from the gospel of Luke, chapter 1) in which she praises God for making her the mother of Jesus. The picture (right) shows the central figure of Mary enclosed within a vesica of blue clouds studded with stars.
The Magnificat window
St Anne's Chapel has three south facing mediaeval windows depicting a chronological sequence of events from the Old Testament.
At the east end of the chapel is a window commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, executed by the well known Victorian glass studio of Charles Kempe. The crucifixion of Christ is depicted and either side are figures of Mary and St Michael, the patron saints of the Priory.
Queen Victoria herself appears in a window in the north aisle, given to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. She can be seen in the panel (right) with her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in a scarlet uniform standing behind her.
St Anne’s chapel
Queen Victoria and family
The two millennium windows in St Giles’ Chapel, at the east end of the north aisle were designed and made by Thomas Denny.
They were given to the Priory in 2003 by The Friends and are based upon themes taken from Psalm 36.
Thomas Denny millennium windows
The guidebook to the stained glass - "Tour of the Stained Glass of Malvern Priory" guide is very informative and available from the Priory Shop, costing £5.