History and Tour

The East Window

The heraldry of the East Window has been interpreted by Dr David Woolf, Sacristan at St. Martin's, with the aid of Saints, Signs and Symbols: A Concise Dictionary by W. Ellwood Post (published by SPCK  ISBN 0 281 02894 X).

A  a white dove with the gold nimbus, blue pile, green mount, all on a silver field  St. David, Principal Patron of Wales.

B  a gold escarbuncle on a blue field  St. Martin of Tours, Patron of the Parish.

C  a gridiron St. Lawrence. (Traditionally black on a silver field, but here gold on a red martyr's field). At one time there was a Guild of St. Lawrence in the parish.

D  three silver lilies on a blue field  The Blessed Virgin Mary.

E  a gold eagle rising and nimbus)  St. John the Evangelist. (Traditionally the eagle is shown on a blue field, but here the artist has selected red, presumably to balance the alternating red and blue fields of the other devices around the central figure

F  a silver swan on a blue field  St. Hugh of Lincoln. 

G  the arms of the Dawney family.

Therefore, reading the lower panels of the window from right to left, the heraldic code is “Hugh” + “St. John” + “Dawney”. The memorial stone giving the dedication of the East window is set into the East wall of the     North porch of the church  in memory of Hugh St. John Dawney.