Finally installed in September after nine months of labour, this massive hand wrought iron screen measures 3.3 x 2.7 metres ( 11 x 9 ft). It was ha
nd-forged by master blacksmith Frazer Picot of Shropshire, and was designed by Aidan Hart. It is probably the largest hand wrought screen of this complexity to have been made for a church in Britain for decades. Everything has been either been riveted or fire welded, a difficult traditional technique in which two sections of iron are heated in the forge and hand forged together. The screen, soon to be partially gilded, was commissioned to cover the wooden pipes of a recently installed organ. It bears a large icon of the Archangel Gabriel, paired with another icon of the Virgin placed on the other side of the sanctuary which together form the Annunciation. For further explanation of the icons’ and screen’s meaning, click here to download an article in PDF format.
