What do footballs, Ford Fiestas, Thomas the Tank Engine and Sainsbury’s have in common? They can be found in modern stained-glass windows throughout the land, reveals Harry Wallop.
LAST year, a pair of majestic, contemporary stained-glass windows were unveiled at Leicester Cathedral. Created by the celebrated stained-glass artist Tom Denny, they commemorate the life of Richard III, now interred at the cathedral. they are a mostly abstract sea of red and blue, with the occasional sketchy figure depicting the life of the king whose life ended at the Battle of Bosworth.
However, in the corner of one of the panes is a tiny picture of a football, nestled among some grass in the grounds of Kirby Muxloe Castle. this is Mr Denny’s tribute to Leicester City’s unexpected triumph in the Premier League season of 2015/16. It’s become quite a thing for visitors to see, if they can spot the strangely modern object amid the abstract trees and smoke of the windows. When they do, it brings a smile to their face just as much as noticing the owls dotted around Wells Cathedral.
Interestingly, this isn’t the only depiction of a football in an English church’s stained glass. there’s the tribute to Duncan Edwards, one of the ‘Busby Babes’ killed in the 1958 Munich air disaster, at his local church in Dudley, West Midlands. Aged just 21 when he died, he is captured in his Manchester United kit, with the inscription from Chronicles: ‘God is with us for our Captain.’
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