If you have time after your visit to Bempton Cliffs, it’s worth stopping off at the village church, St Michael’s, to have a look at the fabulous stained glass window directly opposite the entrance.
It’s dedicated to the memory of Arthur Moore, who was killed in action in France in 1916. Annie, Jane and Maud, his sisters, had it installed in 1962 and it shows St Francis feeding the birds in a scene set on Bempton Cliffs. Puffins, gannets and kittewakes are amongst those that have flocked to the saint – but look closely and you can spot several other seabirds around and about.
The window is signed HMD 1962 on the right hand side and some digging around on the internet suggests that this might refer to the artist Harcourt Medhurst Doyle.
The National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts lists works by him during the period 1949 to 1974, so the date would fit. And he appears to have produced another window in 1962 at Stokesley, North Yorkshire so he was in the general area at some point.
If you can tell us anything more about the artist, the man it commemorates or the window itself, please enlighten us.