Wren Ensemble The window made up
of shards from Wren churches.
The Memorial
Windows Anyone visiting Christ Church,
Meaford for the first time is always attracted to the beauty of the stained
glass windows. Of particular interest are the War Memorial Windows to be
found on the north side of the church, the second and third from the west
and on the south side of the cloister. On close inspection you will notice
that each window is made of pieces of broken stained glass. When looked
upon from a distance, however, there is an unmistakeable beauty and symmetry,
about them. The history of these memorial windows is a facinating one.
The windows are dedicated to the memory of men from our parish who gave
their lives in the war of 1939 - 1945. They consist of fragments of broken
glass from the broken windows of many churches in the British Ilses which
suffered bomb damage by enemy action during the war. The glass was gathered
by the Reverend H.F. Appleyard who was Rector of this parish from 1938
- 1949 while on leave from the parish, serving as a Chaplain with the Canadian
Army overseas. He was later to become Suffragan Bishop of the diocese of
Huron. Some one hundred churches and nine cathedrals are represented, most
of which were along the South Coast of England. There is also included
glass from churches in France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland and Wales.
The two windows in the cloister are of particular interest because one
of the windows is made entirely of glass from churches in London built
by Sir Christopher Wren. The other window consists of glass from cathedrals.
The two centre panels in each window are from Canterbury Cathedral, a gift
from the Dean and Chapter, dated February 22nd, 1943. The design and construction
of the windows were the work of Cox and Barnard, stained glass artists
of Hove, England. The windows were dedicated on Sunday, August 11, 1946.
The windows are intended to represent the destruction wrought by the attack
of a pagan philosophy on the Christian way of life and the necessity of
Christian people gathering together their resources to rebuild a world
which will inevitably bear the marks of suffering, but yet will have beauty
of character and be to the Glory of God.
Canterbury Collage A panel from a window,
right, made from the glass of the English cathedral.
