See Update Below

The lost oriel window at Kiddal Hall



This photograph appears in "A History of the Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet in the County of York" by F.S. Colman

The photograph was taken in the first decade of the twentieth century. Within thirty years (probably in 1928) the window was removed and thought to be sold and taken to somewhere in the U.S.A. - another rumour is that it was taken to Scotland.. The society would like to know where it is now. Any information on this would be much appreciated.

Colman described the window as follows:

"This window has a battlemented parapet with crocketted pinacles and gargoyles; on the parapet, below the battlements, is a beautiful trailing pattern of vine branches and under this an inscription,

"Orate pro bono Thome Elys et Anne uxoris sue qui ista' fenistra' fecurent Anno Dni MCCCCC"¹²

In the cornice beneath the parapet are little shields bearing sacred emblems, the Five Wounds, and floriated crosses, there are Tudor roses, an ape playing a pipe, and one is a monogram, A.R., which may be that of the actual builder."

¹   There are two versions of the inscription. T.D.Whitaker in Loidis and Elmete, 1816, (concurred by Bogg in "The Old Kingdom of Elmet: York and the Ainsty District") states that the inscription says "pro ai'bus" not "pro bono"
²    The inscription translates as:   "Speak for the good of (yes to support) Thomas Ellis and Anne his wife who made this window AD 1500"


Update


Thanks to Dr J. M. Merino de Cáceres of Madrid, we have established that the window as well as other items were acquired in 1927 from a Mr. William Permain, through Nash's Magazine (dated 12/7/27), by William Randolph Hearst.

The objects acquired were listed as:
They were not used and were stored in a warehouse in the Bronx. Their exact whereabouts are still unknown - but we are following up this information with approaches to the William Hearst Foundation.
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