This
is an unusual yet beautiful window with the figures surrounded by
clear glass.
St John
the Baptist possesses some glorious windows, and perhaps chief among
them is the Becket Window, based on the tradition that Thomas a Becket
installed a priest (Wilhelmus) in Penshurst in 1170, shortly before
his martyrdom in Canterbury.
The 800th
anniversary of the meeting of Thomas a Becket and Wilhelmus, Becket's
martyrdom, and of the succeeding centuries of worship in St John the
Baptist, were celebrated in 1970 by a summer-long festival in Penshurst.
The festival included a pageant, a concert and special services in
the church, and a pilgrimage on foot to Canterbury by 32 parishioners
who carried the processional cross.
The festival
was commemorated by the Becket window which was dedicated by the Lord
Bishop of Rochester on Sunday, August 2 1970, and by the building
of six houses at Becket's Field, Penshurst. This housing project was
the inspiration of the Reverend A. B. Curry, rector of Penshurst 1961-1975,
and first chairman of the Becket Trust Housing Association, which
he formed with the help of the late T. J. Burrows as honorary secretary.
