Exploring the vivid history of Penrhos College stained glass
An article in the Rydal Penrhos Society newsletter of August 2007 called the installation in the main site of the stained glass windows from Penrhos Chapel ‘probably the last, and highly visible, act in the amalgamation of Rydal School and Penrhos College’. ‘The interior of the School,’ the article continued, ‘has been greatly enhanced by such colourful, spiritual and fine works of art’.
Today we are delighted to take you on a virtual "stained glass tour" of these beautiful windows.
The Great North Window was the first window to be installed in the Penrhos Chapel, commissioned using funds raised by Rosa Hovey, Headmistress of Penrhos at the time.
The outer lights depict St Margaret of Scotland and St Elizabeth of Hungary.
St Margaret may have been chosen as a kind of pun. 'Marguerite', an old French equivalent for 'Margaret', also means 'daisy' – and the oxeye daisy is one of the emblems of Penrhos.
St Elizabeth can be seen with a cloak full of pink roses, alluding to one of the miracles associated with her, in which the bread she had hidden under her cloak to give to the poor was, when a hunting party questioned her about it, replaced by roses.
The left- and right-hand lights of the Great North Window in Penrhos Chapel
The central light shows a scene from the Gospel of Matthew, in which children were brought by Jesus to be blessed by Him. This section of the window is so loved that it was used by the school for this year's Easter card.
The Great North Window in Reception today
The window can now be found at the entrance to the School in Reception, in Old House.
Next was the East Central Window, donated by a group of Old Penrhosians and installed in the Penrhos Chapel in 1925, and picturing Health, Truth, and Research.
The East Central Window in Penrhos Chapel
In the left-hand light, one figure stretches balletically as another stands with a gymnast’s poise, while in the right-hand light, two robed scholars study a book, a globe, a telescope, and a ship, activities signifying Science and Discovery. In the central light, two scholars in blue robes seem to be conversing, one looking up towards the sky while the other looks down at the pages of a book, a little like in Raphael’s The School of Athens. At their feet are oxeye daisies once again. Above their heads, the banner proclaiming ‘Truth’ is illustrated with a planet above a band of stars, making one think of the view Plato expresses in the Republic that the beauty of the heavens – ‘the exquisiteness of their workmanship’ – might lead a scholar to ‘higher knowledge’.
The East Central Window in the foyer of the Memorial Hall today
The West Central Window was installed in the same year, 1925. It was donated by Charles Hackett Mitchell and his wife. Mitchell was a partner in the firm that carried out audits for Penrhos, but he was also secretary of the Governors of Rydal School between 1905 and 1939. A plaque in the now Osborn Hall commemorates his ‘notable service’ and ‘efficient guidance of [Rydal School’s] affairs’.
The West Central Window pictures Beauty, Song, and Rhythm, and as in the East Central Window, these abstract qualities are represented by concrete activities and objects – sculpture and flower arranging for Beauty, harp playing and the recitation of poetry for Song, and a conversation between two figures, one holding a scroll, for Rhythm. One might wonder why, however, in the top central light, the banner saying ‘Song’ is illustrated with a stylised sun, until one spots that the sun is surrounded by a flock of singing birds.
The window in the foyer of the Memorial Hall today
Are the figures in the two windows, the East Central Window and the West Central Window, male or female? One clue is that the outfit worn by the gymnast resembles the gymnastics outfit mandated for Penrhosians in the 1920s – a navy tunic with a square neck, three box pleats back and front, and a yellow girdle. So perhaps these figures are not just androgynous archetypes but were meant to represent actual Penrhosians!
Both windows can now be found in the foyer of the Memorial Hall.
Penrhos uniform list ca. 1925
This was the fourth window to be installed in the Penrhos Chapel, in 1926 or 1927. It commemorates Charles Wesley Ashcroft, former Chair of the Penrhos Governors, who oversaw the building of the Chapel and who donated funds to purchase and install its organ. It depicts a king-like figure holding a sword, while banners in the top lights celebrate Charity, Love, Courage, and Faith. The scenes in the left- and right-hand lights look rather scholastic, as people hold books or scrolls and seem to be conversing.
Unlike the other windows, this window has quite rich decorative detailing. The left- and right-hand lights have a 'trick-of-the-eye' effect that makes each appear to be topped by an stone arch, giving the impression that one is looking back in time through an unglazed window and seeing a real scene.
The window can now be found in the Ferguson Centre, base of Years 12 and 13 (Sixth Form).
The next window was donated by Mitchell’s wife independently as a memorial to him after his death. It was installed in 1927 and depicts three heroes from Arthurian mythology, Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, and King Arthur. Arthur is labelled as ‘K. Arthur’ – strangely enough, foreshadowing the name of a fondly remembered music teacher at Penrhos, Kay Arthur!
The Ashcroft Memorial Window in Penrhos Chapel
The Ashcroft Window in the Ferguson Centre today
The Mitchell Memorial Window in Penrhos Chapel
Banners in the top lights celebrate Honour and Fortitude, two of the historic constituents of knightly chivalry, symbolised by a crown and a portcullis respectively. Between them is a representation of a golden chalice, presumably the Holy Grail, the quest for which was an allegory for the search for virtue.
Tiles in the borders around each figure show fleurs-de-lys. With its stylised three petals, the fleur-de-lys has sometimes been taken to symbolise three knightly virtues, or even the Holy Trinity.
The window can now be found in the Library in the Prep site.
The Mitchell Memorial Window in the Library today
Next is the so-called ‘Endeavour’ window, installed in the Penrhos Chapel in around 1970 and recently celebrated on the Rydal Penrhos Society Instagram! Designed by Mary Edwards, an Art teacher at Penrhos, the window pictures Endeavour, Exploration, and Endurance.
Hilary and Tensing, who reached the summit of Everest on 2 June 1953, represent Endeavour; Scott and Amundsen, who both led expeditions to the South Pole, represent Exploration; and Chichester, who, in his yacht Gypsy Moth V, became in 1967 the first person to complete a true solo circumnavigation of the globe, represents Endurance.
Edwards designed the window on behalf of Dora Jennings, an Old Penrhosian, in memory of her parents. It's now located in the now Osborn Hall.
The Endeavour Window in the Osborn Hall
The last stained glass window to be installed in the Penrhos Chapel was the Kronberger Memorial Window, commemorating Dr Hans Kronberger, a distinguished nuclear scientist who campaigned for the peaceful use of atomic power. Kronberger was father to two Penrhos girls, Zoe and Sara.
In 1971, Sara visited the Penrhos site in 1971 to unveil the window.
Born in Austria of Jewish parents, Kronberger came to the UK as a refugee in 1939. After studying mechanical engineering and physics at Newcastle, he joined the UK wartime Atomic Energy Team in 1944, and in 1964 became the Scientist-in-Chief of the United Kingdom Energy Authority. An important strand of his work concerned nuclear reactor technology and the use of atomic energy for the desalination of seawater.
This work is reflected in the design of the window, which the Society newsletter of August 2007 described in the following terms:
Production of uranium by the gas centrifuge method is depicted by the flow lines from the centre, the warm glow of which represents atomic power. The blackened trees of the dark perimeters represent eroded forests whilst the blues, greens and purples are the salty oceans. The streaks of light portray the desalination process whereby pure water is obtained from the sea by means of nuclear powered electrodialysis stacks represented by the veined lines.
The window in the Penrhos Chapel
By Physics classrooms in the Costain building today
The window was donated by Geoffrey Thomas, a close friend of Kronberger. In our turbulent world, it is a wonderful celebration of scientific progress and peaceful co-operation between nations, of technology harnessed for the benefit of all humankind.
Last but not least is a window with an incredible history. This window was not designed for Penrhos but came to the school after the Second World War. Today occupying the Senior Dining Room, its original home was in the Savoy Chapel, a royal chapel in Westminster that was threatened by bombing during the war.
The Savoy Chapel window in Penrhos Chapel
In the Dining Room today
