A Demonic Afternoon.

We stopped off and spent a glorious afternoon in the Cotswolds' town of Fairford last week when we were on our short break. It's not a big town, but the disproportionately large parish church of St Mary's shows just how much wealth it made from its wool trade. I knew it had an RAF base, but having done a little research I read that it also probably has the most complete set of medieval stained glass windows in the country. Somehow [heavens only knows how] they escaped being smashed to smithereens during the Reformation. There are 28 in total depicting biblical scenes...below we have that naughty serpent tempting Eve

However, it's the Western window showing the Last Judgement that most visitors make a beeline for. The first picture shows it in all its entirety and then a close up of the light [section of a stained glass window] with all those evil looking devils.

Now you might think that this nightmarish evocation of hell would have been enough to terrify the people into obedience, but apparently not for high above you is this nasty lot of demons bearing down upon your conscience. Even I, in our predominantly secular society, have to say that I wouldn't want to meet any of these characters on a dark night! Someone commented that it put them in mind of the disturbing artwork of Hieronymus Bosch and I have to say that I agree.

Having said all that I think that they are stunning and the use of colour is glorious. I remember admiring a similar palette when I first encountered the work of Marc Chagall in Jerusalem many years ago. The most extraordinary thing is that 550 years separate these pieces of work. The Fairford Windows are now attributed to the Flemish glazier Barnard Flower [d1517] who was the glazier to Henry VII [source Wikipedia]. I don't want to detract from these incredible windows so shall leave it here for today.

Arilx