Audio tour St Marie's Great West Window

St Marie's great West Window was donated to the Cathedral for its opening in 1850 by Lady Augusta Mary Catherine Minna, the mother of the 15th Duke of Norfolk and Countess of Arundel and Surrey, to whom you will find a dedication at the bottom of the window.

The West Window was designed by the renowned English architect, designer, artist and critic Augustus Welby Pugin and made by Hardman & Co.

The window is what is known as a 'Typological Window' because it links events from the Bible's Old Testament with events during the life of Jesus Christ, recorded in the New Testament.

The theories behind Typology started being expounded in the Early Church.

Typology reached its height in the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages - from around a thousand years after Christ's birth to about twelve fifty - and continued to be popular among Protestants after the Reformation in the 16th Century.

Proponents of the fullest version of the theory believe that the whole purpose of the Old Testament is to provide 'types' - models and forerunners - which will be fulfilled by Christ in his life.