NORFOLK’s legacy of hundreds of medieval churches is well known. Less commonly appreciated is the large amount of medieval glass that has survived within them. This beautifully illustrated book will correct any misapprehension.

Paul Harley’s photographs enable the reader to appreciate the details of many windows, especially those in the higher reaches of church buildings where the naked eye needs the aid of binoculars. David King’s descriptions are clear and authoritative, and the reader is guided through a maze of removals and relocations of stained glass within and between churches.

These removals and relocations create a good many surprises. For example, the east chancel window of St Peter Mancroft in Norwich has a great deal of medieval glass, but none of it was originally found in its present location within that fine church. It is not easy to know what you are looking at, which is why this book is so valuable.

Some of the earliest medieval glass in Norfolk — from the 13th century — is found in St Mary’s, Saxlingham Nethergate, a church greatly extended and reordered in the 19th century. It was a Victorian incumbent who introduced its medieval glass, with some of the earliest coming from Caister St Edmund. This book should make such treasures better known. Even those who think they know Norfolk churches well are likely to discover new things.

© Paul HarleyThe Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the mid-15th-century east window of St Peter and St Paul, East Harling, in Norfolk. From the book

St Stephen’s, Norwich, now beside a modern shopping centre, was the last medieval church to be built in the city, not completed until 1550, after the Reformation. The bold colours and beauty of its east window show the vigour of the glaziers’ craft at a time of religious transition.

Meanwhile, in St Andrew’s, Norwich, an early-16th-century panel in a south-aisle window depicts a skeleton, personifying death, leading a reluctant looking bishop to whatever fate awaits him. It suggests that the late medieval period was not without a sense of irony and humour, and that bishops were not universally loved. Perhaps it is no surprise that St Andrew’s later became a centre of Puritanism.

Norfolk parishioners are proud of the legacy of their historic churches, despite the economic demands that these make upon them. This book will give them further cause for thanksgiving, and it is to be hoped that there may be greater national recognition, and financial support forthcoming, for such a priceless legacy.

The Rt Revd Graham James is a former Bishop of Norwich and now an honorary assistant bishop in the diocese of Truro.

Stories in Glass: A guide to medieval stained glass in Norfolk
David King
Paul Harley, photographer
Lutterworth Press £25
(978-0-7188-9727-7)
Church Times Bookshop £22.50