Websites & Books with Marga references – plus Places To See Marga’s Work

The very latest account of Marga’s life & genius is the one created by the BBC – a ‘mini-documentary’ of ten minutes length, made by the corporation’s Inside Out team.
Click here to access the BBC page and see the video of the documentary.

The defintive website with everything you need to know is the one maintained by Margaret Rope’s own relative Arthur Rope:  www.arthur.rope.clara.net
(Marga was Arthur’s father’s cousin, making Arthur her first cousin once removed.  He is also the nephew of the other Margaret Rope (Tor), who was also a stained-glass artist).

Books
Arts and Crafts Stained Glass (2015, Yale Press) by Peter Cormack – the only art-history to give Margaert Rope a profile
Margaret Rope of Shrewsbury by Arthur Rope – a fifty page photo-book of all her best windows. It includes a catalogue of her windows and where to see them
The Two Margarets by Arthur Rope – a photo-book combing photos of all the best windows made by Margaret (Agnes) Rope and her cousin Margaret (Edith) Rope. It includes a listing by date of all known windows of the pair.  It is also available as an e-book.

Biographical notes
Wikipedia entry for Marga constructed by Arthur Rope
Profile of Margaret Rope on ‘Suffolk Painters’
Profile of MA Rope on ArtBiogs

Profiles/Monographs
#  ‘A Family Recorded in Glass: The Windows of Margaret Rope in Shrewsbury Cathedral’ by Fr Peter Phillips (Midland Catholic History Bulletin 2009, No 16)
#  ‘Letting in the Light of Christ’ by Roger Hall, 2006 (the definitive & very detailed guide to the windows in Shrewsbury Cathedral, including Marga’s)
#  ‘Sacrament In Stone, A History of Shrewsbury Cathedral’ (1984) by Judith Hall – has many references to Marga
#  ‘A Catholic Community – Shrewsbury 1850-1920’ by Fr Peter Phillips (Recusant History, Vol 20 1990/1) – has many references to Marga
#  ‘Church of St Mary’ (CCT 2010) by Peter Williams – has references to Marga
#  Profile of the Rope family church at Kesgrave by Simon Knott
#  Profile of the Ropes in Suffolk on ‘Suffolk Churches’

Reviews
A review of Margaret Rope’s work by Mother Xavier McMonagle
A profile of Marga’s Windows at Quidenham Convent
A review of Margaret Rope & The Exhibition by Joanna Moorhead in The Tablet International Weekly

Ongoing Research
An appeal for more information: if you have memories, even handed-down ones, of the Rope family; or have knowledge of the facts behind Marga’s works; or can give us ‘leads’, please do contact us
To see how our work has progressed, see Timeline of The Project

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Places To See Marga’s Work, including online

Sites at which the public can see her work…
Churches with Marga windows – and more (listed on arthur.rope.clara.net).
(Shrewsbury Cathedral, which is where her best work is, has a very good visitor policy. See Shrewsbury Cathedral Opening Times)
The Rope Family Archive in Suffolk (by appt)

… or not!!
There is none of Marga’s work at the Ely Stained Glass Museum nor at the V&A nor at Shrewsbury Museum

Photos of the works
Photos of the Work of the two Margaret Ropes on Flickr – online gallery
Images of Margaret Rope’s painted panels (as well as making stained-glass, MAR also painted on to wood) by Ernest Denim – online gallery
Photos of the Work of the two Margaret Ropes by Ernest Denim – online gallery
On the Wikipedia entry for Marga constructed by Arthur Rope, there are some images, but Arthur invites other photographers to add their own in the ‘gallery’ section at the end of the entry.

Exhibitions
Her ‘Goblin Market’ panel is owned by The Metropolitan Museum of New York but is not usually on view
Her ‘The Welle of Love’ panel is held by Los Angeles County Museum but is not yet on display

Temporary Exhibitions
The Women Stained Glass Artists of the Arts & Crafts Movement Exhibition ran for three months from Dec 1985 at the William Morris Gallery in West London, curated by Peter Cormack. Margaret Agnes Rope was one of the artists whose work was included.  A catalogue was published but only reference copies of it seem to be available now.
The Margaret Agnes Rope Retrospective Life & Works Exhibition ran at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery for four months from September 2016. A small guide to the exhibits was published but only reference copies of it seem to be available now.

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And, for those new to stained-glass, some general links

A webpage on Bottlestore has lots of links on it to pages featuring aspects of stained-glass: from techniques of making it, old and new, to historical perspectives, to projects that one can even complete oneself.  Thanks to Ethan for the heads-up!