Last month we promised a description of the wonderful new window at Wortham Church, designed by Deborah Lowe. It has to be seen to be fully appreciated but our description here should be sufficient to whet your visual appetite. The window comprises two vertical lights, left and right with four tracery panels above and they are described in that order. The three roundels in each of the vertical lights illustrate the passage of the day using soft morning colours at the bottom, sunny midday skies in the middle and sunset colours at the top and each contains a natural scene to represent the hamlets of Wortham or its place in Suffolk
Left Hand Light
The lower roundel represents The Marsh and The Brook hosting Flag Iris, Marsh Marigold and Alder enlivened by a dragonfly in flight.
The middle roundel has a tractor ploughing a field with a horse drawn plough in the background symbolising continuity in times of changing technology, framed by Hawthorn and Queen Anne’s Lace, surmounted by aeroplane vapour trails forming a cross in the sky.
The top roundel shows an open view across The Ling above which flies a Gatekeeper butterfly symbolising Life after Death.
Right Hand Light
The lower roundel shows the Faith, Hope and Charity arches of the Wortham Primary School (built by Rev. Richard Cobbold in 1862) with a pair of Magpies representing Magpie Green and locally found Celandine, Black Poplar and Lime.
The middle roundel has at its centre the Cathedral Tower at Bury St. Edmunds with the old priory ruins in the background and features Ivy (faithfulness and eternal light), a Holly Blue (resurrection and life after death) and Poppies to remind us that 1914 saw the start of WWI as well as the creation of the new Diocese of St. Edmundsbury with Ipswich.
The top roundel includes a portrait of the 1953 Coronation Oak on Long Green, (60th anniversary this year) above which is a glimpse of a Skylark, the epitome of joyful praise.
Tracery Panels
Theses contain the Coats of Arms of the Diocese, and of the Friends of Wortham Church (illustrated) together with flowers to symbolise our patron saint, The Virgin Mary.
Anthony Cobbold
June 2013
