All Saints Tudeley

Hi folks,

as promised we continued on to this unusual church near Tonbridge. It is unique in more ways than one as you will see later. The weather was up and down so I had to dive in and out of the building a few times to get the pictures I wanted. (Good job the knee in improving). The church, most of the structure was from the 18th century although it is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

From the outside it looks quite normal and the windows look the same as any other church until you enter.

Inside is a modern organ which is new and was hand built and dedicated in 1990  and although you can just see in the shot the casing features Kentish hops and acorns. The organ is positioned high up in the roof.

Now what we came here for, the windows. These were designed and made by a Russian artist called Marc Chagall and fitted over a period of time. In 1967 this east window was installed above the altar and dedicated to Sarah d'Avigdor-Goldsmid who died age 21 in a sailing accident off Rye. She had loved the artists work and her parents commissioned him to design this window. You can see her body in the sea in the bottom left hand side of the window with her mother and other daughter in the two panels above.
The artist  was excited about the way the window was lit as in his work before the lighting was artificial. This is the only church in the world were the whole church has these windows, the only other single window of his work in England is in Chichester Cathedral. He died in 1985 at the age of 98 when the last windows were installed in this church.

This window depicts fish and birds.

Signs of hope and life depicted in these three windows behind the font.

Looking down the church from the vestry, showing the wonderful light shining into the church from outside which is what the artist really liked and came back to finish off all the church windows

More light captured by the windows

Finally the the seascape window showing the intense light. I will show more the windows in the next blog.

Thanks for looking and thanks to the website  www. tudeley.org   Click on the link and have a look.

Best regards, Mike