Stained Glass Tours in EnglandSherrill, Charles Hitchcock
History
Stained Glass Tours in England
Sherrill, Charles Hitchcock
Cathedrals -- England; England -- Description and travel; Glass painting and staining -- England
Catherine framed in a canopy, holding her wheel in one
hand, and revolving it with the other. The background is red within the
canopy, but green outside, a very frequent adjustment at that time. In
both the upper and lower parts of these lancets are groups of three and
four kneeling donors, about eight inches high, with labels above them.
This glass has not always remained in its original embrasures, but,
fortunately, did not stray far. Its travels were cut short by a
gentleman who purchased it for £5 from an antiquary's shop in a
neighbouring town, and restored it to its early home. More important and
more beautiful sanctuaries will be encountered in our travels, but it is
well to have halted for even a brief time at this ancient Saxon fane, if
only to ponder upon how tenacious must have been the traits of those
early ancestors of ours, to have persisted to these modern days with
such vigour as to have made the adjective "Anglo-Saxon" so significant.
BRISTOL
Bristol is connected with London by the Old Bath Road. What memories
that name arouses of beaux and belles of stage-coach days, gaily
chatting to while away the fifteen-hour trip from London to Bath, or
furtively glancing out to see if bold Dick Turpin, or some gentleman of
his profession, be not lurking in the shadows of the trees, intent on
relieving the tired horses by lightening the passengers' luggage. This
stage-coach period is of peculiar interest to visitors from across the
seas, because it takes one back to old Colony days, and the War of the
Revolution. In England the improved facilities of travel provided by the
stage coach had much to do with advancing parliamentary government and
doing away with the system of "rotten borough" representation in
Parliament. Bustling and hearty days were those of the four Georges,
which produced a Prime Minister like William Pitt. In this progressive
era of railroad construction and stock manipulation, it is interesting
to read how Richard Palmer besought the Government to establish a
regular mail-coach service on the Bath Road, alleging the great profits
they could thereby secure, but really hoping in this way to increase the
profits of his theatre in Bath. After a long struggle he finally got the
ear of William Pitt. The service was established, and his subsidy (which
was to be regulated by the amount saved in carrying the mails) proved so
large that they cut it down to the lump sum of £50,000! The first coach
started on August 8, 1784. Nowadays it causes us to smile when we read
of the tremendous effect produced throughout the country by the news
that this coach left London at eight o'clock in the morning and arrived
at Bristol at eleven the same evening! Such unheard-of speed aroused
wide interest, and had much to do with the great success of Bath as a
fashionable watering-place. Bowling along this historic road we shall
only stop long enough at Bath to see the remains of the baths built by
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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