This stained-glass window of 1883, made by J. Powell & Sons (Whitefriars), is located in the church at Litchborough. It depicts St Martin ⓘ of Tours on horseback sharing his cloak with a beggar — one of the most enduring episodes of late Roman Christian legend.
The saint is shown mounted upon a white horse, clad in military attire with a halo marking his sanctity. With his sword he divides his red cloak, extending half to the nearly naked beggar who stands beside him. The gesture symbolises charity enacted in immediacy and humility. According to tradition, Martin later received a vision of Christ wearing the divided cloak, affirming that the act of mercy had been rendered to Christ himself.
The composition is vertically arranged within a single light, framed by foliage and patterned glazing above. The rich red of the cloak contrasts with the muted tones of the horse and beggar’s garment, drawing attention to the moment of division — the narrative and theological focus of the scene.
Executed by Powell & Sons in the later nineteenth century, the window reflects the firm’s characteristic clarity of drawing and controlled colour harmony, combining Victorian historicism with renewed attention to medieval models.
