Famous Victorian designed stain glass windows to be renovated

Wednesday 06 February 2019

A historic stained glass window, at one of Guernsey's churches, is to get a much needed facelift thanks to the hard work of fundraisers and some very generous donations.

St Stephen's Church has been campaigning for the £85,000 needed to restore its historic William Morris windows since last year.

The socialist, writer and leader of the Arts and Crafts movement in the UK is noted for the saying "have nothing in your house you don't know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". Examples of his work on stained glass panels in Guernsey are thought to be some of the earliest in existence, including the 13 at St Stephen's Church, which are more than 150-years-old.

The congregation at St Stephen’s launched a fundraising project last year to raise the £85,000 needed to repair them, and now Ravenscroft has donated £5,000 that work can start, with the glass panels due to be removed next week so they can be fixed and reinstalled over a six month period.

Pictured: A typical William Morris print. 

Scaffolding will be put up next week, so a specialist team from Holy Well Glass, who have worked on restoration projects at Winchester and Exeter Cathedrals, can remove the windows.

"We knew it was an ambitious fundraising target but we have been delighted by the support we received from our congregation and the wider community. The generous donation from Ravenscroft has taken our fundraising to £80,000 and because we are now confident about being able to raise all of the money needed, we will instruct the specialist restoration company to come to Guernsey and remove the windows," said Father John Moore.

The windows include the first ‘Tree of Jesse’ window to be designed by William Morris, who is described as ‘unquestionably the most original and influential stained glass producer of the later Victorian period’ with the windows at St Stephen’s being ‘notable examples’.

Pictured: One of the stain glass windows to be repaired at St Stephen's Church.

The work to the windows will see the original stained glass cleaned and preserved with faded detail scanned to create a replacement which will be fitted behind the original. Cracks will be repaired and missing pieces of glass will be remade to match the originals with the new glass etched with the date of creation to identify them as replacements. New external protective glazing will be fitted and internal vents will be added to allow air to circulate between the two layers of glass and prevent future damage. 

"We are looking forward to seeing the windows restored to their former glory. They are beautiful works of art and it is vital that they are preserved for future generations to enjoy. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated and to Ravenscroft for their support which has allowed us to go ahead with the work," Father John Moore said.

Toby Peatfield from Ravenscroft said:

"Ravenscroft has been a long-term supporter of both St James and the Priaulx Library, which are some of St Peter Port’s most historic buildings. The windows at St Stephen’s Church are beautiful and we want to congratulate everyone at St Stephen’s for their efforts to save such an important piece of the island’s history."