File:Saint Mary Magdalene, Ickleton, Cambridgshire. 1929 - 49034237787.jpg

English: Crucifixion with St. Mary Magdalene and St. Etheldreda by Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope.

Left Hand Light Saint Mary Magdalene, to whom the Church is dedicated: She is standing holding the alabaster pot of ointment with which she anointed our Lord. Her cloak is of purple – the colour of Penitence. Behind her is the empty tomb (to the left) with the three empty crosses on Calvary over it, and on the right she is meeting our Lord in the Garden after she had been early in the morning to the tomb and found it empty. The shield over Saint Mary Magdalene is the Arms of Lewis and Beddoes. In the circle at the bottom of the light is Saint Mary Magdalene washing her Lord’s feet and wiping them with her hair at the feast given by Simon. At the table are seated two guests looking on with astonishment and disapproval. In the small circle at the top of the light (on the left) are the ship in which the Saint and her brother and sister (Lazarus and Mary of Bethany) sailed to Provence. In the centre circle is the Sacred Heart showing the love of our Lord for Mary and all mankind. In the right hand circle is the alabaster box of ointment.

The two stained glass artists named Margaret Rope were first cousins, granddaughters of George Rope of Grove Farm, Blaxhall, Suffolk (1814-1912) and his wife Anne (née Pope) (29/3/1821-1/10/1882). Neither married: both were baptised Anglicans but died Roman Catholics.

The younger Margaret was the 5th child of Arthur Mingay Rope (himself George and Anne's 5th child: 1850-1945) and Agnes Maud (née Aldrich: 1855-1943). She was born on 29th July 1891 and christened Margaret Edith at St Margaret's Church, Leiston, Suffolk on 25th August. She died in March 1988.

Born into a farming family at Leiston on the Suffolk coast, Margaret Edith Rope found herself among artistic relatives at Leiston and Blaxhall, Suffolk: her uncle, George Thomas Rope, landscape painter and Royal Academician; her aunt Ellen Mary, sculptor; sister Dorothy, also a sculptor. In the family, her nickname was "Tor", for tortoise. She was later to use a tortoise to sign some of her windows.

She was first educated by an aunt and later at Wimbledon High School, Chelsea School of Art and LCC Central School of Arts & Crafts (where she specialised in stained glass under Karl Parsons & Alfred J. Drury).