The Lady Chapel

Peace, Light and Colour

During the C18th and early C19th the Lady Chapel housed Queen Elizabeth’s Free School of Grammar and Writing. Established in 1571, the school moved here from the medieval Chapel of the Holy Spirit that stood in the south churchyard until the mid-C18th. Today the chapel is a place for quiet prayer and reflection.

Harry Stammers Stained Glass

Harry Stammers (1902-1969) was one of the greatest stained glass artists of the 20th century and the founder of the "York School" of stained glass at his studios in the great city of York. He designed magnificent and striking windows for many churches and other great buildings.

Besides the Lady Chapel windows in St Mary Redcliffe, you can also find his work in the east window of St Michael on the Hill Without, Bristol [ie outside the boundaries of the old medieval city walls) which depicts Christ in Majesty and a window in Merchants' Hall, Clifton, the home of the city's Merchant Venturers.

The Lady Chapel windows were designed and installed between 1960 and 1965. They are the only windows anywhere in the church that were designed as a collection and are in the location for which they were specifically intended.

Lady Chapel windows

The Lady Chapel windows are the most dramatic set of windows in the whole church.

Designed specifically for this chapel, this set of windows depicts the Magnificat, Mary's song of rejoicing at the coming saviour whose mother she was to be; her subsequent joys and sorrows as she experienced Christ's life and death; they also declare the promise of salvation, particularly expressed in images of women of faith down the centuries.

The first window inside the chapel on the north side illustrates the phrase "All generations will call me blessed", from Mary's great song of joy at the news she would give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Saints down the ages are depicted in this window, with a particular emphasis on female saints. Visitors can look for St Francis of Assisi (look for the birds) and Joan of Arc (think of knights in armour) and St Catherine (think of Catherine Wheels on Bonfire Night!).

The east window shows the Virgin Mary at key points in the life of Christ - his birth and his death.

In the windows on the south side there are illustrations of the Last Supper and Pentecost, and also an exquisitely placed and depicted crucifixion, resting just at the top of the small door in the south wall.

In most of these Lady Chapel windows, ordinary modern people appear alongside the saints of history - a farmer driving his horse and cart in the final window on the north side (inside the sanctuary), in the east window not just shepherds and wise men from ancient Palestine but also modern women (note the handbags), men (note the trilby hat held in hand, as a mark of respect) and children gently approaching Mary as she holds her tiny new born baby and then her dead son, Jesus.