Day 3 – Mon 14 Sept

Stephen chatting with the Parish Administrator of St John's, Belmont in front of a window that had been moved from another church. Stephen's father's window was on the other side of the church.

Last day in Surrey.  We had breakfast at Elly’s again and headed off to Belmont (Sutton) where LSL had a very large window opposite the one shown here.  I chatted with the vicar and said I loved the old Victorian windows but I preferred LSL’s because they were a bit more spiritual and ‘hallelujah’ than the traditional ones which were more ‘religious’.  Not sure he got what I was saying.  He was very polite about it though.

As well as collecting images of LSL’s windows and the others in the churches (for context), I wanted to document Stephen’s discoveries as well.  But he was very camera shy so I had to sneak up on him quite a lot.  I think I’ve got a few nice ones but I would have liked to have caught him and each of his father’s windows in the same shot more than once (Reigate).

A window by Alan Younger, former student of LSL

Next was St Mary’s at Ewell.  We entered the church via the office and at first thought that this window was the one we were looking for.  On the opposite wall, however, was a definite LSL window, with signature.  We queried this with the lady in the office who said that the dove and the rest of the window had been made at the same time (we thought the bottom part wasn’t LSL’s but the dove was very distinctively his style).  She went off to check and told us it was done by Alan Younger.  Stephen remembered that he had been one of his father’s students and assistants and had gone on to become successful in his own right.  He died two or three years ago.

So that explained why the dove was so like LSL’s doves.  The LSL window opposite has a dove above the main image so perhaps this was added to reflect the older window and acknowledge his ‘master’.  LSL operated a traditional apprenticeship style of mentoring with his students/assistants.

Huge window by LSL at St Mary the Virgin, Cuddington. Click the image to link to another of his windows in the same church.

After Ewell we went to Cuddington – some beautiful windows all through the church.  In addition to LSL’s modern windows, there was another contemporary one that I liked by Andrew Johnson.  It’s in the children’s corner and was installed in 2005.  The effect of the light on the floor is shown below, from a momentary burst of sunshine outside.

We quickly slotted in a trip to St Andrew’s in Oxshott but weren’t sure that we’d found an LSL window.  There was a large circular window up high which Stephen thought might have been his father’s, but the photos (not very clear because of the distance) do not show any of his ‘trademark’ styles.  Not all of his windows do, of course, but there really wasn’t anything to confirm authorship.  We will have to contact the church and make further investigations.  It might be that he did some restoration work for the church and didn’t in fact produce a window there.

It was time to head back to Portsmouth to drop Stephen at the ferry before heading off to Romsey to stay with friends there.  We discovered we were near another church from the list from which we hadn’t managed to contact – at Ockham – but it was closed.  The rest of the journey back went smoothly and we got back to Portsmouth at around 5.30pm.  I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and pay a visit before braving the motorway across Southampton to Romsey.

Spent a lovely evening with Fi and Nick – always good hosts and good company – and finally saw “my” room as Fi has referred to it since decorating it when they moved in.  Slept like a log.

Miles travelled – 111 (total to date, 329)

St Mary the Virgin, Cuddington

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