Elizabeth Brown with a
Wall Hanging
(Photo courtesy of the
South Wales Argus)
Wall Hanging
(Photo courtesy of the
South Wales Argus)
The two exquisite wall hangings which grace the Baptistry of St Mary’s Priory Church were designed and made by Elizabeth Brown, a regular member of the congregation here in Abergavenny. The 20 feet long by 40 inches wide hangings are entirely hand made and took Elizabeth just 10 months to complete, working four to six hours a day—although not every day—starting on August 28, 2006, and finishing on June 28, 2007. They were unfurled and blessed during the Parish Eucharist on Sunday, September 9, 2007.
The fabrics, some of which date back to the 1920s, include raw silks, silks, satins, cloth of gold, brocade, crash, linen, cotton and wool and the designs depict Christian symbols of light and life. The discipline is stained-glass patchwork. Marion Pearce, a member of our congregation, introduced Elizabeth to St Mary’s Priory and two of Marion’s fabrics are used in the left hand side wall hanging.
Elizabeth was born in Zimbabwe, the daughter of Ranger Tyrell who left the shores of England to seek his fortune in Rhodesia in 1928. He was a window dresser and journeyed to Sanders, a departmental store in Bulawayo, at the behest of McGinleys of London. His journey and life were not without adventure but in 1930 he was able to have his fiancée, Florence, join him, to be married. In 1934 he was promoted and set up a branch of Sanders in Salisbury where, in due course, he became managing director. Sanders grew into one of the most famous and renowned departmental stores and boasted the only Ecclesiastical Department from Cape Town to Kenya.
They had two children, Elizabeth and John. John Tyrrell, is a Professor of Music at Cardiff University and the world’s foremost Janacek authority.
Following in her father’s footsteps, Elizabeth became a window dresser, working for Sanders in Salisbury and in Bulawayo, and then for Stuttafords in Cape Town. Whilst being a farmer’s wife and mother she found time to design and paint theatre sets, carry out exhibition work, sew hand-made silk ties and the like. Her great love is researching and creating ecclesiastical designs and her works include fifteen wall hangings in St Elizabeth of Hungary, in Belvedere, Harare, and one at St Aldhelm’s, Swindon, England.
Fabrics gathered throughout the years by Ranger and Elizabeth were used to wrap furniture and belongings on her relocation to Wales from Zimbabwe in 2002. This precious fabric collection dates back to the 1920s and is used in the wall hangings for St Mary’s Priory Church made in thanksgiving for many blessings and dedicated to the peoples of Zimbabwe.