Research never stops still, and updates are constantly necessary; even such a definitive work as Roger Hall’s ‘Letting In The Light of Christ: Margaret Rope’s Shrewsbury Cathedral Windows’ has to have tweaks now and again. Thus, especially as the original 2008 booklet sold out some time ago, Roger has now brought out a new edition.
Below, Roger outlines for us the major changes between the new and old edition.

(The appearance of this new work coincides with the Shrewsbury Stained Glass Festival, which takes place in August, and in which Margaret Rope’s works feature highly. See below for more on this event).

+++
Letting in the Light of Christ: Main Differences between the First & Revised Editions

The changes in the second edition relate mainly to two windows in Shrewsbury Cathedral.

The window formerly known as the Congress Window
When I was writing the first edition of my booklet I relied for some of my ‘facts’ on an earlier publication about the Cathedral, which stated that this window (see full description) “commemorated the Eucharistic Congress held in London in 1921”.

Since then it has become possible to access online a contemporary account of the event that is illustrated in the two quatrefoils near the top of the window and labelled (in Latin) ‘May 1921’ (see pic right). This account makes it clear that the window shows the scene in central London outside Tyburn Convent on 1st May 1921 at the end of the annual march in honour of all the Catholic martyrs who died for their faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. It does NOT show a Eucharistic Congress – in fact there wasn’t a Eucharistic Congress in London in 1921 at all!

Margaret Rope was living and working in London at the time and so was probably in the crowd at Tyburn and able to draw the scene from first-hand experience.
The depiction of the Tyburn March is particularly appropriate here as the other parts of the window show scenes from the lives and deaths of some of the martyrs.

It has now also proved possible to study Margaret Rope’s preliminary drawings for the window. These were previously held in store at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, unsorted and very difficult to access, but they are now in the Margaret Rope Archive at Kesgrave in Suffolk, sorted, catalogued and photographed.
One of the drawings has written on the back in the artist’s own hand ‘Seminary Martyrs’, so I have given that as now the correct name for the window: ‘The Seminary Martyrs Window’.
(The two seminaries in question are Douai College in France and The English ‘Venerabile’ College in Rome – but more of that in the booklet!)

The Baptistery Window
The other main difference between the first and revised editions of my booklet is my now more meaningful interpretation of the Baptistery Window.

A story, when shown in medieval narrative windows, was read from the bottom of the windows to the top, and Margaret Rope followed this convention in her narrative windows in the Cathedral – for example, in her St Laurence Window, on the other side of the building.
I had not previously realised that the Baptistery Window (see detail below) was a narrative window too, and if it is read from bottom to top it depicts in correct order the various stages of the font blessing ceremony, as outlined in the old Holy Saturday liturgy. (This ceremony was modified considerably in the 1950s, and moved from the morning to the evening of the day before Easter Sunday, to become the Easter Vigil).

The narrative is explained in the booklet (though I have placed a summary online), and is best understood by standing in front of the window, booklet in hand…

These sections of my booklet have been re-written accordingly, and there are other minor amendments made in the light of ongoing research.
I would like to thank the LD Rope Second Charitable Settlement for a grant to complete and publish this work.

Roger Hall
++
Copies of Letting In The Light are priced £5 and are available from Shrewsbury Cathedral shop which is located in the cathedral’s adjoining cafe. Proceeds go to the maintenance of the building.

No better comment on Letting In The Light can come from anyone but the major historian of stained-glass of the 1870-1940 era, Peter Cormack, who reviewed the original edition in The Journal of Stained Glass Vol XXXII (2008). He wrote that the windows ‘contain complex scenes full of esoteric Catholic imagery – which Hall explains with admirable clarity.’

+++

Addendum: Shrewsbury Stained Glass Festival 2023

This festival, part of the Shrewsbury Summer Arts Festival, runs across August throughout the town, with guided tours, workshops and talks.

For those interested particularly in Margaret Agnes Rope, two sets of events stand out.
On August 1st, at 2pm, Mark Stewart is giving a talk at Shrewsbury Library on ‘How Not To Be Famous: The Story of Margaret Agnes Rope’. Tickets are £3; reserve a ticket on 01743 255308, or, to be ultra sure of a ticket, send a cheque for £3, made out to ‘Shropshire Council’, to Shrewsbury Library (please remember to include your contact details).
Also, on three Saturdays in August (12th, 19th and 26th), there are tours of the two main churches in the town for stained glass, Shrewsbury Cathedral and St Mary‘s. The tour starts at the cathedral at 1pm and is free – just turn up!

+
If you’d like to comment on this article, please use the Comments Box below

To receive an email alert, about once a month, to tell you when a new article appears on this website, see the button marked ‘Get Alerts via Email‘ on the top right side of this page, then put your email address in the empty box; then click ‘Follow‘.