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A Contemporary Stained
Glass Window - Writtle, the Birthplace of the BBC
[Extract from All
Saints Writtle by Stuart Platt, pub 1992]
 The two light East window in this chapel contains
the most recent Writtle's stained glass windows, designed by Jane Gray,
and installed in 1992. It commemorates the life of Guglielmo Marconi,
famous inventor of the wireless telegraph, and the elevation to the
peerage of Beryl Platt, one of the country's earliest women engineers.
Baroness Platt has lived in Writtle for over 50 years, during which time
she has been deeply involved in local government, education, equal
opportunities for women and the work of the House of Lords.
Supreme in the top of the arch is the Labarum, the
Monogram of Christ, beneath which, in the left panel is the seal of the
Hospital the Holy Ghost in Rome with which Writtle was connected in the
13th and 14th centuries. In the right panel is the chalice used to
celebrate the Eucharist in this Church; linking the two panels is the
symbolic crown of All Saints and the words Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
Lower in the left panel is the Phoenix symbolising the Resurrection, and
at the same time the triumphant restoration of the church after the two
fires, this is balanced by three fishes representing the Trinity. At the
base on the right is the Coat of Arms of Marconi, beneath an electric
spark; the roses flanking the arms show the very strong links he had
with England. In the left panel is a cog wheel symbolising that the life
of an engineer is a life of service, and beneath is the coat of arms of
Baroness Platt of Writtle.
Few people these days are aware of the fact that
Writtle is the birthplace of what we now accept as "radio
broadcasting" in this country, but it was on a frosty St
Valentine's night in 1922 that the first regular programme of
entertainment broadcasting began, from a First World War Army hut in a
field beside Lawford Lane, using the call sign 2MT, “Two
Emma-Toc-Writtle calling". It thrilled the world, breaking new
frontiers of innovation, and continued for a year; in this hut down
Lawford Lane were laid the foundations of what was eventually to become
the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Seventy years later Writtle was on the air waves
again, when on midsummer day, the morning service went out on BBC Radio
4, and the evening, "Sunday half hour" on Radio 2. The Marconi
Research establishment had flourished here for some 70 years before it
was closed and the historic site redeveloped for housing. This window
places on record Writtle's long association with the Marconi Company,
and at the same time dedicates the work of engineers and scientists to
the Glory of God, through their service to mankind.
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