Fig. 1 Members of the Clopton family, John Clopton’s ancestors, now in the north nave aisle of Long Melford Church.
Research by the church tourism website, explorechurches.org, has named Suffolk as the country’s best county for discovering stained glass. Analysis of 2,000 churches by The National Churches Trust, which runs the website, found that 72% of the county’s churches are home to stained glass by famous designers (or of particularly high quality or craftsmanship), and that collectively, the county boasts an enormous variety of stained glass windows, from medieval, through the Victorian and Pre-Raphelite periods, to more modern times.
Of all the stunning examples that helped Suffolk claim its title, perhaps the most spectacular, and familiar to readers of Vidimus, is that found at the church of the Holy Trinity at Long Melford (fig. 1), particularly associated with the wealthy local wool merchant, John Clopton, set up in the late fifteenth century in commemoration of his family.
Cornwall, home to glass such as the spectacular late medieval windows at St Neot’s, and Cumbria, which counts the exquisite set of windows by Edward Burne-Jones at St Martin’s, Brampton among its treasures, joined Suffolk in the top three county spots in the survey.