St Mary with St Alban

The 17th century poet and mystic Thomas Traherne was a past incumbent of this church and is buried within the church itself.  His earlier years were spent as a rector of Credenhill, a parish in the diocese of Hereford.  The cathedral has recognised his works by commissioning four stained glass windows, which are located in the newly restored Audley Chapel.  Over a period of 6 months the internationally renowned glass artist Tom Denny created the windows, each depicting a different theme of Traherne’s writings.

On Passion Sunday, 25th March 2007, the windows were dedicated during a choral evensong service which was attended by more that 300 people. In the commendation part of the proceedings 120 adults and 2 children, who were all in some way connected with Thomas Traherne, read short passages from his works as illustrated in each of the windows. 

Our church has also made a worthy contribution to recognising Thomas Traherne’s importance, most notably in the fine east window of the chancel designed in 1960 by A.E.Buss and made by Goddard and Gibbs to replace Victorian glass destroyed by the blast from a wartime flying bomb.  It is a lovely design, skilfully drawn and richly coloured, yet full of light.  The central dignified figure of Our Lady and the infant Jesus, with the imagery of St John the Divine, ‘A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet’. They are surrounded in a great whirl by the glory of all God’s creation and safely nestled beneath this swirling vision is our church of St Mary, taken from a copper engraving of 1809, and looking much the same today. On either side, facing the centre, kneel the two great priests, Stephen Hales, taken from a known portrait, and Thomas Traherne, drawn with inspired skill by Mr Buss.

Our Parish Register has the clear and confident record that Thomas Traherne was buried in the church on 10 October 1674 and that his grave is beneath the reading desk; blissfully forgetting that the said reading desk was a moveable object.  There are vaults under the building but they have been sealed for well over a hundred years, so we are unlikely ever to know more precisely where his remains are laid.

If you are interested in finding out more about Thomas Traherne's works, Denise Inge has written an interesting and informative book about his writings titled “Thomas Traherne: Poetry and Prose”, published by SPCK Publishing.

Note: No portrait appears to exist of the man himself.