52/2013 Week 15

It’s been a busy week, preparing for Ambleside and then to cap it all the weather was not great. Quite a lot of rain but there again we were in the Lake District and I suppose the lakes wouldn’t exist without the rain.

Anyway to escape the aforesaid rain I took the opportunity to visit St. Mary’s Parish Church in Ambleside and do a spot of stain glass photography. Regular readers will know that I have been taking part in a Weekly Photo Challenge on Flickr; it’s hard to believe we have reached week 15 already.

St. Mary’s or to give it the correct name “The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin” was built between 1850 and 1854. Ambleside was beginning to have an increasing number of visitors due to the railway reaching Windermere by 1847 and the former parish church was too small to accommodate them for services.

The architect was Sir George Gilbert Scott and unlike traditional Lakeland churches this one has a spire.

The window you see here depicts Four Evangelists and Saint Paul as the Champion of the Gospel. Their symbols are Mathew’s angel, Mark’s lion, Luke’s winged bull and John’s eagle. Above the five main lights there are scenes showing the Nativity, Ascension, and Jesus blessing children. Above Paul are the arms of the Harrison and Wordsworth families.