This is St. Martin’s church, Bowness on Windermere, where we went towards the end of September to attend the wedding of my nephew, Paul. After the service, I went back inside, to seek out, and possibly photograph the Washington Window.
At school, we were told this as hard and fast fact; indeed, several books have, too. High up in the east window are stained glass panes bearing the coats of arms of various bygone benefactors of the church. One of these is the arms of one John Washington … which consists of mullets (stars) and fesses (stripes).
Here, fact becomes fable. It is said that John’s descendant, George, based the stars-and-stripes design of the American flag on his family’s arms.
The Rector was kind enough to point the window out to me, but said that he, personally, doubted the story, and thought the similarity between the two designs was conjectural and maybe coincidental.
Further researches tended to confirm this; there seemed to be no firm proof that George Washington was a member of that branch of the family, or that he knew about the coat of arms.
But, it’s a good story, anyway.
- Not the best picture: Some distance away & I only had a standard lens with me.
Latest outpourings at http://www.travelbloggersunite.com/profiles/blogs/coach-touring?xg_source=activity
Hi Keith,
Yes it seems it may only be a story, but still a lovely window and a beautiful church as well.
I love what you have written in your other blog, all very good points.
By: magsx2 on December 19, 2011
at 9:17 am
A good story as you say and why not – life is full of random moments when a coat of arms might become a country’s flag
By: Heatheronhertravels on December 19, 2011
at 9:48 am
It is a great story. I like to think it is true. Adds a richness to the history!
By: Selma on December 20, 2011
at 12:48 am
There’s a couple of references here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_George_Washington and http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10817FE355D13738DDDAE0894D9405B848DF1D3 . Interestingly, there’s no mention of the window at Bowness in Wikipedia; from what little I know of heraldry, it would seem the original Washington arms in this case were ‘quartered’ with someone else’s; probably the wife of an early Washington … you can see another example of this in the Maidstone picture in the Wikipedia entry.
By: travelrat on December 20, 2011
at 6:46 am