The East Window
The East Window was designed and executed by John Hayward for the re-consecration of Saint Mary & All Saints on 8th August 1964.
In the top section or tracery, set in rich reds and blues, the Three Persons of the Trinity are represented symbolically. From left to right, they are The Passion of God The Son, The Creating Hands of God the Father and The Grace of God The Holy Spirit.
The middle section reflects that the Parish church is dedicated to All Saints, as well as Saint Mary, and celebrates those saints specifically honoured by the altars in the Shrine and Church. In the central panel the Image of Our Lady of Walsingham with the Christ Child is taken from the medieval Seal of the Walsingham Priory.
S. Nicholas & S. Anne
Our Lady & Holy Child
S. Catherine & S. Lawrence hold the instruments of their martyrdom, a wheel and grid-iron
These panels include images of the two other premier pilgrimage locations in the Middle Ages:
S. James of Compostella
S. Thomas of Canterbury
Across the three central panels of the middle section are the words
Virgo Pia Genetrix Sit Nobis
Tender Virgin be our Mother
which was inscribed around the rim of the Seal of Walsingham
The images in the two panels on the extreme left and right are those of –
S. Augustine, whose writings were the inspiration for the Rule followed by the Augustinian Canons at the Priory.
S. Francis, whose followers built a Friary at the entrance to the village in 1345
The bottom section tells the story of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham re-founded by the Vicar, Father Alfred Hope Patten in 1932.
The central panel (left) recalls the good news of the Annunciation to Our Lady in her home in Nazareth. This was at the heart of Lady Richeldis de Fervaques’ vision and inspired her to build a replica of the Holy House in Walsingham. In the adjacent panel (right) Lady Richeldis is shown kneeling beside S. Edward the Confessor.
The extreme left hand panel shows the great importance of Walsingham as a place of pilgrimage for many English Kings. This procession, starting with Richard Coeur de Lion and including Henry III, Eward I, II and III, Henry IV and VI, ended abruptly with Henry VIII who, though a regular pilgrim to Walsingham, allowed the Shrine and all other centres of pilgrimage to be destroyed with the dissolution of the monasteries. The figure of Henry VIII is shown at the bottom of this panel with the flaming Holy House in his hands.
In the right of the centre panel, amongst the flaming ruins, the new Shrine emerges with Father Hope Patten kneeling at its entrance.
The Parish Church also rose again from the flames of a disastrous fire on the night of 14th July 1961. Our Lady, Patron and Protectress, holds the restored church in her arms as it rises phoenic-like from the ashes at her feet.