Composite panel of clear glass roundels and quarries with painted details and yellow (silver) stain. English, c.1600.

Given by W. Verner Longe, Esq.

Formerly in the collection of W. Verner Longe of Ipswich. At one point the panels were in Preston Hall in Suffolk. Preston Hall is about two miles north east of Lavenham.

The painted glass in this panel includes moralising texts from the Bible. The history of their creation and ownership has been lost over time but prior to their coming into the museum's collections they were in Preston Hall in Suffolk. A story about their possible history can be pieced together and can serve as a model for other researches into old glass found in various collections.

Prior to their removal from Preston Hall in 1919, descriptions of the glass in the Hall were recorded in the local East Anglian Daily Times.

In one of the bedrooms was a window with quarries depicting the arms of Ryece of Preston impaling those of Strangeman of Hadley Castle in Essex.

The glass shown in this panel was described as a series of roundels and diamond-shaped quarries on which are Latin inscriptions. These were located in the room above the hall and in two windows besides the entrance doorway. They were further described as being wrongly inserted back to front and upside down.

The authors of this article and a subsequent one in the Daily Times proceed to give information relating to the Ryece family and the present (as of 1919) Preston Hall.

The Ryece whose arms are impaled with that of the family of Strangeman was thought to be Robert Ryece who came to the village of Preston during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). He married the daughter and heir of Strangeman of Essex. This is the point when the family arms would have been joined together. Robert Ryece established his seat in Preston but it seems as if his house was on the opposite side of the church in Preston to where Preston Hall is.

In 1826 the local antiquary David Elisha Davy recorded that there had been two halls in the village of Preston. The Ryece family hall had been demolished in the 17th century and its contents, presumably including the decorated glass windows, were bought by the inhabitants of the surviving Preston Hall and that is how the glass came to there.

Because records were not kept in depth in previous centuries, we may never know the true history of these painted quarries and roundels, nor who chose them and what the texts meant to them.

The painted glass in this panel includes moralising texts from the Bible. We have lost the history of their creation and ownership, but they were in Preston Hall in Suffolk before they came to the Victoria and Albert Museum. We can piece together a story about their possible history, which can serve as a model for other researches into old glass found in various collections.

Descriptions of the glass in Preston Hall before their removal in 1919 were recorded in a local newspaper, the East Anglian Daily Times.

In one of the bedrooms was a window with quarries (often diamond-shaped panes as used in lattice windows) depicting the arms of Ryece of Preston impaling those of Strangeman of Hadley Castle in Essex.

The glass shown in this panel was described as a series of roundels and diamond-shaped quarries bearing Latin inscriptions. They were located in the room above the hall and in two windows besides the entrance doorway. They were further described as being wrongly inserted back to front and upside down.

The authors of this article and a subsequent one in the Daily Times then give information relating to the Ryece family and Preston Hall at that time (1919).

The Ryece whose arms are impaled with that of the family of Strangeman was thought to be Robert Ryece who came to the village of Preston during the reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). He married the daughter and heir of Strangeman of Essex. This is the point when the family arms would have been joined together. It seems, however, that Robert Ryece’s house was on the opposite side of the church to Preston Hall.

In 1826 the local antiquary David Elisha Davy recorded that there had been two halls in the village of Preston. The Ryece family hall had been demolished in the 17th century, and its contents were acquired by the inhabitants of the surviving Preston Hall. This presumably included the decorated glass windows.

Because in-depth records were not kept in previous centuries, we may never know the true history of these painted quarries and roundels, or who chose them, and what the texts meant to them.

C.430-1919