Gents Mag 1849 part 1 p.376

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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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