Stained Glass of Percy Bacon Limited

South Aisle 4. The Empty Tomb.

South Aisle 4: Mary Magdalene and the angel at the empty tomb.

South Aisle 4: Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb.

South Aisle 4: In the background behind the Maries; the approaching disciples Peter and John with Mary Magdalene, as told by John (20.1-5).

South Aisle 4: The Empty Tomb.

Posted 16 April 2026.

This window, representing the stories of the visits to the empty tomb variously described in the synoptic and narrative gospels is essential a copy of one in Holy Trinity Church, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. Here Percy Bacon has been able to include those stories in a single window. The main foreground theme is the three women called Mary meeting a "man dressed in white" at the empty tomb, as related by Mark (16:1-8), though in this case Percy Bacon represents that man as an angel with golden wings pointing skywards, sitting on the edge of the empty stone coffin, its lid missing. Only Matthew (28:1-6) mentions an angel. John (20:1-5) tells a different story; He says that Mary Magdalene attends the tomb alone, and finding it empty runs to the disciples to appraise them. Mary Magdalene, Peter and John then run to the tomb to investigate. This story is represented in this window by the three figures approaching in the background. Luke, in his telling of the incident, is a little less specific.. He relates (23:55-56 and 24:1-) that the (un-numbered) women who had accompanied Joseph of Arimathea from Galilee went to the tomb and saw “two men” in “clothes that gleamed like lightning” who told the women that Jesus was risen. Luke's story is not represented in this window. It is, however, in the east window of 1925 in St Andrew's, Denton, Lincolnshire. The design was also adapted for a single lancet in St James's, Perth, Ontario, Canada, in the Matheson memorial window

The dedication reads:

The date that this window was inserted is not clear, but it seems to be later than 1918 in which year Thomas Bidgood Sutton died.¹ His wife, Mary Huxtable Sutton (nee Gimblett), daughter of William and Mary Gimblett, died in 1935 aged 78.² This makes the dedication a little confusing. Her brother and sister had died prior to 1900, so they are remembered in the dedication. However, the words, "their children" would include Mary Sutton, so this may be an unusual "pre-dedication". It is highly possible that Mary Sutton gifted the window.

The window is unsigned.

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1. Source: WikiTree.com.
2. Ibid