Ightham Church - Cawne Window and Monument

r IGHTHAM CHURCH : CAWNE WINDOW (EXTERIOR). ( 379 ) IGHTHAM CHURCH.—CAWNE WINDOW AND MONUMENT. MR. AYMKB VALLANCE has kindly sent two photographs of the Cawne window and monument in Ightham Church, which we publish in view of the controversy that has recently taken place with regard to the propriety of filling the window with stained glass in memory of the late rector, the Rev. J. Polehampton, M.A. The fine photograph of the window as seen from the outside clearly shews the peculiar cork-shaped decoration of the points of the cusps of the foliation. This treatment is very uncommon; the only other instance that comes to mind at the moment occurs in a small triangular gable-light at Icklesham Church in Sussex, visited by the Society on the occasion of its Annual Meeting at Rye a few years ago. Orlando Jewitt's woodcut of the window, published in Archwologia Cantiana, Vol. IV., p. 224, makes the cusps appear to have round knobs attached, somewhat like the treatment of the cusps of the windows of the Chapter-house at Westminster Abbey. If the woodcut is to be relied upon as evidence of the glass existing in the window in 1861, the present glazing with diamond-panes must have been inserted after that date. Judging from the photograph we imagine that the modern execrable e Cathedral glass,' so-called, has been used. The stone-work has been repaired, as may also be seen in the photograph, part of the central muUion and of the tracery springing therefrom with some of the corkstops having been renewed. The window is dated at the very end of the reign of Edward III., provision for its erection being made in the will of Sir Thomas Cawne.* * See Archaeologies Cantiana, IV., 224, and V., 324. 380 CAWNE WINDOW AND MONUMENT. The interior photograph, of the monument with the window above it, very difficult to take, was touched up under Mr. Aymer Vallance's direction before he sent it to us for reproduction. We believe that the project of inserting modern stained glass has been abandoned. The original glass, which is said to have contained the arms of Sir Thomas Cawne and his wife Lora, daughter of Sir Thomas Morant, has entirely disappeared. m w IGHTHAM CHURCH : CAWNE MONUMENT AND WINDOW (INTERIOR).