St. Peter and St. Paul Church - III

 

The real stars of the church are the brasses embedded in the floor. The one above (excluding my feet, of course) is in memoriam to John Fortey who rebuilt much of the church using his fortune accumulated in the wool trade. If you look closely, you can see that one foot is on the back of a sheep and the other is on woolpack. Aligned on either side of John is a row of medallions. These are his woolmarks. This is the image he would stamp on the canvas wrapping of the woolpacks he sold, his trademark.

He began work on the church before his death and left 300£ fo the completion in his will. He also left 10 shillings each to 80 poor maidens to fund their marriage and fourpence to each prisoner in Gloucester Castle.

Next is the memorial to Robert and Anne Serche. This is best preserved on all the brasses. It is made of disconnected parts but nothing is missing. So Robert and Anne are the two large figures. Below them are their three daughters (left) and one son (right). although the inscriptions are very difficult to read, I am assured that it says that Robert died on 20 January 1501.

Robert was a mercer, selling fine textiles, hence no sheep or woolpack.

Here is the brass memorial to William Midwinter and his wife Agnes. He also died in 1501 and his wife a year later. He, too, was a wool merchant (thus the sheep and woolpack at both their feet). Below them are figures of their two daughters and two sons.

In 1493, William was High Baliff here in Northleitch.

These windows have a touch of color at the top. On this day, whatever color they provide to the interior is overwhelmed by the flood of light from the outside filling this corner of the church.

The east window does have a very tastefully done stained glass in it. While the stone portions of the window date to the 15th century, the stained glass is from 1963 and done by Christopher Webb.

Stepping back farther into the church, we get an in-context view of the window and the huge amounts of light from it and the side window that illuminate the building. Here you also see some of the cushions you saw stored earlier being used on the wooden seats.