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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.376
The Ratcliffes were connected with this county only by their
landed possessions and their name, afterwards ennobled as
Earls of Derwentwater, to which title circumstances in a
subsequent age gave a romantic interest.
By his wife Dame Alice he had not any issue; and, dying a
childless man, the estates of the Derwentwaters reverted to
his elder brother, Sir Cuthbert Ratcliffe, of Dilston; as it
appears from a survey made in the thirty-fifth of Henry the
Eighth of knight's fees in Cumberland, these estates were
held by Sir Cuthbert of the King by the service of two
knights' fees and the rendition of various other obligations
incident to the feudal régime. In that family
they continued until, for conspiring, in the words of one of
the most spirited Jacobite songs of the period, to bring
"the auld Stewarts back again," they were forfeited to the
Crown, on the attainder and execution in 1716 of the last
Earl of Derwentwater, the traditionary stories of whose
youth, gallantry, and misfortunes have thrown so magic an
interest over the neighbourhood around.
The windows adorned with stained glass are but six in
number. They are all the production of that tasteful artist
Mr. Wailes of Newcastle-upon-Tyne: and it will probably not
be devoid of interest if an enlarged description is afforded
of what has been done by the judicious introduction of this
resplendent material, harmonized by taste and skill in the
execution, to give effect and character to the sacred
building. They are designed in conformity with the style of
the window decoration which prevailed at the end of the
fifteenth century; and to an observer learned in the history
and genius of of ancient fenestral embellishment, each of
them in accordiance with the depths of those expressive
times the Middle Ages, when a regular system of the mystical
meanings of colours was in use, will be found to have been
made to tell some tale of local feeling, or convey a truth
in the typical language of this beautifully revived
Christian art.
The large east window, and also the windows at the east and
west ends of the south aisle, are the gifts of the liberal
individual at whose expense the church has been restored.
The large window, from its size and happy combination of
colours and designs, is a splendid effort of gorgeous
colouring. The seven scriptural subjects, which, among the
blaze of hues that fascinate and overpower the eye, bestow
its chief character, are incidents of the last days of the
Saviour upon earth: 1, Christ washing the Apostles' feet; 2.
The Last Supper; 3. The agony in the garden; 4. Christ
bearing his cross; 5. The Crucifixion; 6. Angels at the
sepulchre. In the tracery in the head is the Ascent into
heaven, with figures of angels holding labels and harps; and
above all, an Agnus Dei; the whole of these stories
representations being interspersed with various elegant
devices, which, by the disposition and tones of the
predominating colours, produce a brilliant picture, full of
the finest effects and devotional influences.
The east window of the south aisle, called the Derwentwater
Chapel, or Magdalen's Chantry, contains the appropriate
pictorial subjects of Mary Magdalem washing the Saviour's
feet, the three Marys at the tomb of Christ, and Christ and
Mary Magdalen. Above the second of these pictures appears,
in ancient stained glass, the head of the Magdalen; and at
the foot is now correctly placed the armorial escutcheon of
the Ratcliffes, impaling quarterly 2 and 3 Dame Alice's
paternal coat, and 4, Argent, two bars gules, on a canton of
the first a cinquefoil of the second, Derwentwater; through
whose blazonry the mellowed light falls with jewelled
radiancy upon the brasses and motionless effigies of the
families whose remains were entombed beneath. It is
apprehended that in the cleansing of this escutcheon,
previous to its being set up in the situation it now
occupies, the Ratcliffe arms in the first quarter of the
shield have inadvertently been blundered, as a difference is
perceivable between the blazon and the arms of the same
house engraven on the brazen shields in the slab beneath.
The vestry window, at the west end, contains the figures of
St. Cuthbert and St. Kentigern, and attracts admiration, not
only for the perfect tones of its solemnly contrasted
colouring, but for its striking position when seen
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