The Stapleton Chantry

This morning I went to visit the Stapleton Chantry Chapel at North Moreton a few miles south of Oxford. Begun in 1299 it's east window is among the earliest surviving stained glass in the country. Miles de Stapleton was Lord of the Manor and courtier to Edward I and Edward II. He and his two sons were killed at Bannockburn in 1314. The window has survived the Reformation, the iconoclasm of Edward IV, the English Civil War, aerial bombing during the Second World War and the ravages of rain and wind for more than 700 years. Many of the faces of saints and of Christ were destroyed in the 15th century and have been replaced with plain coloured glass. Despite this the religious narrative told across the five lancet windows can still be discerned. Each of the five lancets is surmounted by a canopy reflecting the design of the Eleanor Crosses erected by Edward I following the death of the Queen. It is one of the most remarkable medieval windows I've seen this year.