Stanhoe Norfolk

Stanhoe village photography

Explore Stanhoe in north-west Norfolk through photographs of its pond, village buildings and surrounding countryside. The collection brings together wider views and smaller details that give the village its character.

The duck pond is a central feature, while flint, brick and tiled buildings connect the village to the wider Norfolk landscape. Browse the gallery above to find a view you would enjoy as a print.

A village shaped by its rural setting

Fields and farm buildings surround Stanhoe, with All Saints Church providing another subject for photography. For local information, visit the Stanhoe village website.

Interested in a photograph for your home or a local project? Contact Norfolk Drone with the image you like, the size or finish you have in mind, or the location of a proposed commission.

Stained Glass at All Saints Church Stanhoe

All Saints, Stanhoe is a fine 13th century church with an off-set square tower which serves as a south porch. The build-programme began around 1280, and was completed about fifty years later.

The north and south arcades are early C14, probably around 1320, but the chancel had a different builder — its windows have fine shafting inside, and the fine stepped sedilia have ‘ogee’ canopies.

The choir-stalls, altar-rails, pulpit and lectern are all of exceptional quality — installed in 1853 as a memorial to Revd. Daniel Everard who was Rector here for sixty years. The brass candelabra hanging from the Chancel roof, has twelve arms radiating from a double-headed eagle, and is a magnificent example — probably Dutch.

There are many fine monuments to the Hoste family ( from Barwick House ). Sir William Hoste was a famous sea-captain in Nelson’s time, and he also has memorials in St. Margaret’s, Lynn, & St. Pauls Cathedral, London. The Chancel North window commemorates Lt. George Seymour, who died in India in 1887.

In view of the elegance and quality of the chancel furnishings, it comes as no surprise to find a collection of stained glass windows by three of the finest Victorian Glaziers in England (in addition to the nine panels of ancient heraldic glass, re-set in the North Aisle.)

The stained-glass inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was largely produced by the workshops of William Morris & Co, whose design team claimed a pedigree which included Holman Hunt, Ford Madox-Brown and Burne-Jones — all of whose glass designs may be seen in the neighbouring church of Sculthorpe.

As the movement evolved, it divided into two main ‘streams’, one of which — headed by Charles Kempe & James Powell — stayed with the more formal figures and poses of the High Victorian Gothic, while the other group retained the sentimental dream-like quality of the Pre-Raphaelites — to create an ‘Aesthetic’ school of stained glass, led by Ward & Hughes, and the Morris / Burne-Jones duo — very capable workshops which sent much fine glass to Norfolk.

All Saints, Stanhoe, has splendid examples of almost all of the ‘spear¬head’ firms. It was Charles Kempe who crafted the very complex ‘Tree¬of-Jesse’ East window, which shows Christ in Glory at the top, and no fewer than twenty-two saints and prophets below, illustrating the familiar text ‘I am the vine, Ye are the branches’.

Kempe also installed the colourful ‘Resurrection’ window at the East end of the South Aisle, and may have been responsible for the two pairs of musical angels to the right, although these are un-signed.
The North chancel window is perhaps the most captivating, with its life¬like pictorial epic ‘Visitation of the Shepherds’ typical of the impeccable crafstmanship and glowing colours of Ward & Hughes, (cover photo).

All the Pre-Raphaelite artists were captivated by William Morris’s beautiful wife Janey — and their daughter May — and used both as their models, so their solemn faces and long red hair found their way into countless paintings and stained windows of the day. Look at the ‘Shepherds’ window at Stanhoe, and sure enough, there is May Morris (tall angel, right) bearing a golden mace; and don’t miss the exquisite draughtsmanship of her left hand, holding the mace!

Ward & Hughes other window, opposite the organ, could hardly be more different, imitating the well-known style of Powell medallions. James Powell (at Whitefriars Glassworks) produced many famous windows showing scenes from the Life of Christ in oval or lozenge-shaped panels, and this look-alike designed by Henry Hughes is one of his best. The other south chancel window, with two square panels of angels, is a genuine Powell, designed by Pre-Raphaelite Henry Holiday.

© 2005 Geoff H. Robinson, Black Five Publications, Syderstone

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