Thread by @friendschurches

At Llangattock Vibon Avel, as light radiates into the church of St Cadoc, it illuminates St Michael’s golden armour. A dazzling sight.

But this beautiful stained glass wouldn’t exist today if the maker, Charles Eamer Kempe, hadn’t had a stammer.

Kempe, the son of a Lord Mayor of London, attended Oxford and originally intended to take holy orders. However, he realised that his stammer, and his shyness, would make preaching extremely challenging. The priesthood just wasn’t meant for him.

While pondering his future, Kempe was inspired by William Morris's design for the Oxford Union's debating chamber. He decided that "if I was not permitted to minister in the Sanctuary I would use my talents to adorn it".

Kempe studied ecclesiastical architecture and gained experience in stained glass and painting in churches in Cambridge and Liverpool, followed by a commission for Gloucester cathedral.

And after opening his own stained glass studio in 1866, C.E. Kempe went on to become one of the Victorian era's most celebrated and prolific stained glass designers and manufacturers.

Kempe's artistry, and the work of his studio C.E. Kempe & Co, can be seen in the cathedrals of Chester, Gloucester, Hereford, Lichfield, Wells and York.

📷 St Mary Magdalene, Chichester Cathedral (Jules & Jenny via flickr)

C.E. Kempe’s opulent Pre-Raphaelite designs are known for androgynous finely clothed figures, angels with peacock feather wings, a trademark wheatsheaf emblem, and the strong use of yellow.

📷St Patrick, in St John the Baptist’s, Burford (Lawrence OP via flickr)

For St Cadoc's, Llangattock Vibon Avel in Monmouthshire, C.E. Kempe & Co created an orchestra of angels (designed by Wyndham Hope Hughes) for the double tiers of the west window in 1879.

And in 1884 the studio created an exquisite four-light line-up of saints in the Rolls Chapel (probably designed by John Carter), including St Michael, with his glowing amber armour and peacock-feather wings.