ST GILES’ BANNERS FOR THE 900th ANNIVERSARY
At the special service to celebrate 900 years of St Giles’ Cathedral, the new St Giles’ banners were donated and dedicated.
The design takes inspiration from the seal on the Papal Bull conferring collegiate status on St Giles’ in the 15th century. The original seal has St Giles with his hind. In the original it is small: in our design, it is the dominant feature, representing the saint protecting the weak and vulnerable, offering sanctuary- as relevant today as then.
From a choice of three designs by Sheana Stephen Ashton, this one was chosen. As a prototype, the pulpit fall was made first, to see that the design “worked” and that it would be suitable for enlarging to the scale of the pillars. The sanctuary pillars have a hanging face of 21-22 feet by 29 inches- a design challenge.
These banners hang in front of the plain blue side of the St Andrewstide banners that we had made in 2014.
Sheana and Georgina Chapman ,our technical expert, set out to make the first banner. The materials are silk, gold fabrics, cords, wadding and linen. The design is drawn to the full size (the cartoon).
The colours are limited to blue, black, gold and white- the colours of a mediaeval manuscript. We not only made the first banner, but with the help of other members of the Guild we sewed the component parts of the other three banners.
All of this took 2 years. In March 2024 work started in earnest on the other three. The Banner Guild had swelled to a dozen, quilting, sewing, embroidery experts, many of them members of the Costume Society who were ready to get working and offer their skills for the benefit of the church. In the Holy Cross Aisle, each week from March to July, the team cut, ironed, tacked, pinned and sewed the banners.
This made a great talking point for the visitors: fellow banner makers, church embroiderers, quilters and crafts people stopped to chat.
The combined expertise of the team meant that the work was completed on time: members of the Guild took work home to sew on their own machines from week to week. This was a very satisfying and enjoyable venture.
The banners will be seen each September to celebrate St Giles.
THE BANNER GUILD
With the moving of the sanctuary as the centre of worship to within the four ancient pillars, the use of banners was established to focus the eye. Originally, they were of felt: over the years these have been replaced by specially designed liturgical seasonal banners. The Christmas Angels, designed by Sheana Stephen Ashton in 1992 were followed by the Trinity or Ordinary Time banners in green, by Meriel Tilling in 1998.
The Easter banners, sewn with the expertise of the Thistle Quilters, led by Georgina Chapman, were designed by Sheana Stephen Ashton. These won a Saltire Award in 2009.
The St Andrewstide banners were first hung in 2014.The banners have a plain blue side: the new St Giles banners hang in front of them.
The Lenten banners, like the St Andrewstide ones, were sewn by the Thistle Quilters under Georgina Chapman, to a design by Sheana Stephen Ashton.
The Guild continues to work, repair, restore the fabrics of the church.