In the beginning...

ON the outskirts of Redruth in Cornwall, a new stained-glass window has been installed at Kresen Kernow, an archive that houses more than a million documents relating to the county’s history. Created by Abigail Reynolds, the window is inspired by Britain’s oldest complete play, the Ordinalia of 1425, which was recently returned to Cornwall for an exhibition.

The Ordinalia is a Biblical trilogy centred around the Tree of Knowledge and would have been staged in the round with the audience at the centre. Reynolds’s starting point for the window—named Tre, the Cornish word for home—was the Ordinalia’s story of Adam and Eve’s son Seth visiting the Tree of Knowledge. The play’s original stage directions encircle the tree in pink. A modern-day Seth stands by its trunk. Above him, the crown is composed of branching forms tinted green. The tree has its roots in the play itself, as a medieval angel seems to direct the action. Small roundels of green glass made from Cornish sand and seaweed punctuate the window, physically embedding Cornwall into the surface. These roundels, the tree and the standing stone allude to the deep bond Cornish people feel for their home and its ancient past.

The artist, who has a studio in nearby St Ives, has a fascination with libraries and archives. Kresen Kernow is open Tuesdays to Thursdays and Saturdays (www.kresenkernow.org). Charlotte Mullins

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Tre, by Abigail Reynolds, tells the story of Cornwall’s ancient past