The Centre Panel
This panel shows St Wenna, representing the spirit of the parish people, surrounded
by an almond shape of her coracle, which represents the parish boundary. At the top of the centre panel is the focus point with the cross, representing the presence of God and the
essential links to God's people on Earth. The red cross, which is the symbol of our primary school, Trenode C of E School, also represents the vital role that is played by our children and the future they offer.
The almond (or mandorla) shape is a specific traditional christian symbol representing the linking of different worlds - normally the divine and the mundane worlds. It is derived geometrically from two overlapping circles each with its centre on the others circumference.
It is normally found in representations of Christ Pantocrator, but is also used to border images of saints, indicating their other-worldliness. Poetic license has been exercised to contract this shape to suit the confined space available, but also to visually relate to the curragh and to the fish symbol (common christian symbol still very much in use) and the leaf/seed shape. This becomes the thematic motif for the window - the perception of dualities/pluralities of existence.
Morval means sea valley in the Celtic language. St Wenna chose the spot for our conception (indicated by the very tip of her curragh touching the border between land and sea) and the parish developed around her. Our modern appreciation of our environment is indicated here in the very transparency of the glass upon which she is engraved, allowing us to make the link between outside the church and inside - the natural and the spiritual. Without the dark background of trees the engraving becomes almost invisible - enforcing the link. The saint herself can be read as the spirit of the parish and her curragh as the body of the parish. It can also be seen as symbolic of the Christian movement from the earliest conversions to the end of its second millennium, which after all is the purpose of the window - the pearl in the oyster, the child in the womb, etc
by an almond shape of her coracle, which represents the parish boundary. At the top of the centre panel is the focus point with the cross, representing the presence of God and the
essential links to God's people on Earth. The red cross, which is the symbol of our primary school, Trenode C of E School, also represents the vital role that is played by our children and the future they offer.
The almond (or mandorla) shape is a specific traditional christian symbol representing the linking of different worlds - normally the divine and the mundane worlds. It is derived geometrically from two overlapping circles each with its centre on the others circumference.
It is normally found in representations of Christ Pantocrator, but is also used to border images of saints, indicating their other-worldliness. Poetic license has been exercised to contract this shape to suit the confined space available, but also to visually relate to the curragh and to the fish symbol (common christian symbol still very much in use) and the leaf/seed shape. This becomes the thematic motif for the window - the perception of dualities/pluralities of existence.
Morval means sea valley in the Celtic language. St Wenna chose the spot for our conception (indicated by the very tip of her curragh touching the border between land and sea) and the parish developed around her. Our modern appreciation of our environment is indicated here in the very transparency of the glass upon which she is engraved, allowing us to make the link between outside the church and inside - the natural and the spiritual. Without the dark background of trees the engraving becomes almost invisible - enforcing the link. The saint herself can be read as the spirit of the parish and her curragh as the body of the parish. It can also be seen as symbolic of the Christian movement from the earliest conversions to the end of its second millennium, which after all is the purpose of the window - the pearl in the oyster, the child in the womb, etc