The 14 Stations of the Cross were carved by Robert Randall and Ashley Sands from honey-coloured Japanese oak. The carving is broad and unfussy, with very expressive use of drapery, the only painted detail being the simple gilding of the haloes. Though the stations are quite small, 2 ft by 1 ft, they have a monumental quality that is associated with much larger works.
In the words of Ann Gardom, art critic of New Directions:
“Christ seems to move through the scenes with a sense of isolation and acceptance, and with a serene awareness of what is to come, which is palpably not shared by the other characters. They are violent, grief-stricken, brutal, roughly compassionate by turns, but Christ goes to his death knowing he is fulfilling his Father’s will. This is conveyed by the static quality of his poses compared with the more energetic and lively gestures of the other figures. It is especially so in the Stations where Christ falls under the Cross, and in the scene with St Veronica. This isolation is emphasized in the Crucifixion scene by the thieves who were crucified on either side of him being moved into the background, their little crosses and bodies a long way off. Christ is in the foreground, arms outstretched on the Cross, with two weeping women at its foot.
The Stations are linked together in the way the landscape is conveyed – the rocky foreground with the occasional stunted tree, or the low clouds, the small buildings (including representations of the Church) bring continuity and coherence to the sequence of images. The golden oak from which they are carved stands out against the dark oak panelling, and allows the stations to hold their own in an interior of remarkable richness and variety.”
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus takes up his Cross
- Jesus falls for the first time
- Jesus meets his Mother
- Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
- Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
- Jesus falls for the second time
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
- Jesus falls for the third time
- Jesus is stripped of his garments
- Jesus is nailed to the Cross
- Jesus dies on the Cross
- Jesus is taken down from the Cross
- Jesus is laid in the tomb