BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
19
th annual edition
13
more sparse designs, each figure standing on
grass with little or no scenery behind them.
Cox continued to experiment with figures
set in a rich landscape at St Peter, Stratton,
Gloucestershire and particularly successfully
at St Mary, Whalley in Lancashire (this latter
church already containing a c1913 window by
Christopher Whall). However, the 1929 window
at St James the Great, Ince was the earliest
window where Cox developed the style that
would dominate her work through the 1930s and
1940
s. Here, each of the two lights is dominated
by a saint (St Francis and St Werburgh), each
with a large, brightly coloured and decorated
halo. Other elements of the picture are kept
to the lower part of the picture, with birds
and flowers on the grass and cathedrals in the
distance. The background is otherwise made
up of a pattern of quarries (individual panes or
pieces of glass). The larger pieces are generally
of clear glass, but abundantly decorated with
patterns and symbols, with tiny, diamond-
shaped pieces of coloured glass inserted at
the corners of the larger pieces. The picture is
surrounded by a border of coloured and clear
glass, the latter being richly decorated with
black painted patterns. Cox did not adopt slab
glass for her work, as was used by Christopher
Whall and his pupils. Rather, she chose to
enhance her windows by richly decorating
the quarries with patterns and pictures.
Through the 1930s and 1940s Cox
produced a number of exquisite windows,
generally of saints. However, she was not
afraid to experiment when the opportunity
arose, especially with the larger commissions.
Examples of these include the three-light
nativity at St James, Latchford (1933) and the
three-light Christ Ascending at St Matthew,
Stretton (1939). Notable too are a number
windows in St Mark, New Ferry. The Neston
church also provided an interesting Williams,
Gamon & Co WWI memorial window (1920),
designed by Bernard Rice. Wallasey, just
to the north of Birkenhead, also provided
excellent stained glass of this time, including
two windows by AJ Davies in St Mary, Liscard
and the remarkable collection of windows at
the Egremont Presbyterian by artists such as
William Aikman, Gustave Hiller and Edward
Woore. Even closer to home, in St Mark,
Claughton, on the outskirts of Birkenhead, was
a wonderful Christopher Whall seven-light
east window of Christ in Majesty (1906).
Although Cox’s early career was clearly
linked to Williams, Gamon & Co, she was
accepting independent contracts from at
least as early as 1927 and probably earlier. Her
early windows show her experimenting with
different styles of composition. The six-light
window in the Rydal School library in Colwyn
Bay is packed full of Arthurian elements: the
grail, Sir Percival, Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and
the killing of a dragon, all set in a rich wooded
landscape with castles. However, at about the
same time, in 1925 and 1926, she designed two
windows for Chester Cathedral’s cloisters. These
comprise eight famous characters, including
Archbishop Plegmund, the chronicler Ranulph
Higden, Hugh Lupus (1st Earl of Chester) and
St Thomas of Canterbury. These are much
King Arthur, St George and St Nicholas (1928): an early experiment with rich and complex backgrounds at St Mary, Whalley, Lancashire
‘
The Word Was Made Flesh’: part of the 1932 ‘blue’
window at St Michael, Blundellsands, Lancashire
