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Tuesday 3 June 2008

In the potting shed!


I have got used to finding memorials in the most unlikely places but they were the last thing on my mind this last weekend when, with a bunch of friends, I took the opportunity of looking round the extensive formal gardens of a private house in Grange over Sands. Wandering around I noticed, high on the hillside, a stone built potting shed with a row of windows that gave a great view of the garden and The Bay. Two of the window openings contained stained glass, unusual enough, but I was astonished when I went into the shed and looked at them more closely. They were memorial windows, created to commemorate 14 men who died in the Great War.



They are delightful if rather unpreposessing designs of an angel and a Knight. Quite small, they remain in good condition. Having persuaded my mate Big Rod to take photos of them I went down for a cuppa and a cake and asked the owner of the house what he knew of them. It appears that they were bought at Tennant's Auction Rooms in Leyburn, Yorkshire some years ago, but he knew nothing of their origins.

So what do they tell us?

The window depicting the angel bears a pretty standard dedication showing that they were originally in a church, but there is no indication of where the church was. The second window of a rather nice Arts & Crafts Knight bears a list of names. Preliminary identification of these suggests that the guys were from Heywood, Lancashire. More work needs to be done!

What a remarkable discovery. In their home town they may or may not be lamented - but they have survived! More to come on this! If anyone has any suggestions as to a possible artist/designer/maker I would be glad to hear from them.

5 comments:

Mrs A Holden said...

By coincidence my sister saw your blog in a link from the Great War Forum. She saw it exactly five years to the day since you posted it. The last name on the memorial window is that of my Uncle Jack Thornley. (John Stephenson Thornley) He was killed on 27 May 1918 aged 19 and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the memorial at Soissons in France and just recently we have organised for his name to be inscribed on the War Memorial in Heywood, Lancashire where my family come from. The memorial windows are from the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Heywood where I used to go as a child. Please comment if you want further information.

Avis Holden said...

Hi, I did post a comment on a few days ago but it hasn't appeared so maybe I did something wrong. Anyway I wanted to say that the last person inscribed on the memorial window, Jack Thornley was my Dad's older brother. The memorial window comes from the Primitives Methododist Chapel in Bridge St Heywood where all my Dad's family worshipped in the past. I know that the windows were used by the gardener to construct a garden in Japan for the World Cup of Gardens and there was a suggestion that it would be dedicated to my uncle but apparently it was finally dedicated to another soldier from the window. I would like to track down the window and come to see it so can I please ask where you first saw it and do you know where it is now? Thank you, Avis Holden

Louis said...

Hello Avis = thanks for your comments! I wass so surprised to find this memorial - but it is a gem. Can you remember it in the chapel? Where it was? When did the chapel close?

The windows are still in Japan - I don't know when they are coming back. But they were located at Yewbarrow House, Grange, up the hill behind the library. The gardens there are open every year under the Garden opening schemes. Keep your eyes skinned for their prospectus.

Avis Holden said...

Hi Louis, sorry I didn't realise you had responded till now and thanks for the information. I went to Bridge St Methodists in Heywood as a child in the 1950s. I went in the morning with my Grandma and to Sunday School in the afternoon until I was about nine and I rebelled! I vaguely remember seeing the memorial windows but at that age I sadly didn't take any notice. I looked online for info about the garden in Japan and found an article in the Manchester Evening News about it. It said that the windows would eventually be relocated at one of Jonathan Denby's hotels The Newby Bridge Hotel at Newby Bridge near Windermere. He is the man who owns Yewbarrow Hall and he designed the garden. I have emailed them in an effort to find out if the windows are now there but not had a reply. From what you say though the garden is still in Japan, (in Nagasaki) so I'll look out for more information. I'm not sure when Bridge St Methodist was demolished as I left Heywood in 1968. I think it was in the 70s or 80s. It looked nothing like a church, very stark and Dickensian looking. There may be a pic online and certainly I've seen a pic on the Remembering Heywood page of Facebook. The soldier to whom the garden was finally dedicated was called Frank Taylor who died at 17 after only 11 days at the front and he was ill when he was sent to fight. Avis

Avis Holden said...

Hi Louis, sorry I didn't realise you had responded till now and thanks for the information. I went to Bridge St Methodists in Heywood as a child in the 1950s. I went in the morning with my Grandma and to Sunday School in the afternoon until I was about nine and I rebelled! I vaguely remember seeing the memorial windows but at that age I sadly didn't take any notice. I looked online for info about the garden in Japan and found an article in the Manchester Evening News about it. It said that the windows would eventually be relocated at one of Jonathan Denby's hotels The Newby Bridge Hotel at Newby Bridge near Windermere. He is the man who owns Yewbarrow Hall and he designed the garden. I have emailed them in an effort to find out if the windows are now there but not had a reply. From what you say though the garden is still in Japan, (in Nagasaki) so I'll look out for more information. I'm not sure when Bridge St Methodist was demolished as I left Heywood in 1968. I think it was in the 70s or 80s. It looked nothing like a church, very stark and Dickensian looking. There may be a pic online and certainly I've seen a pic on the Remembering Heywood page of Facebook. The soldier to whom the garden was finally dedicated was called Frank Taylor who died at 17 after only 11 days at the front and he was ill when he was sent to fight. Avis