Stained Glass In Gloucester

As a county, Gloucestershire is unique in that it has some of the finest examples of medieval and 19th/20 century glass to be found anywhere in the country. From Gloucester Cathedral with it’s stunning 14/15/16th century windows to it fine 20th century arts and craft windows; Tewkesbury Abbey’s windows dating from 14th century; to St John’s at Cirencester with wonderful 15th century panels exhibiting rarely used examples of ‘jewels placed on glass’ (basically sticking small pieces of coloured glass on to the made up panels). But, with out a doubt, some of the finest windows of all can be found in the small but very friendly St Mary’s Church in Fairford. Not only is it memorable for its 28 intact original late 15th century glass panels pre-dating some of the stained glass windows at Kings College, Cambridge, it’s cloisters also come alight with some extremely fine16th century heraldic panels including the arms of Catherine of Aragon.

The county is scattered with other fine stained glass windows including 19th and 20th century work by both Henry and Edward Payne. Edward Paynes’s work can be seen in various village churches from Box (nr Stroud) and Cherrington (nr Tetbury) to Cheltenham, Clearwell and Minchinhampton (nr Stroud). Keeping up the family stained glass tradition is third generation Gloucestershire stained glass artist Caroline Swash, whose own windows can be found not just in Gloucester Cathedral, but in Portsmouth Cathedral, in St Paul’s Church Cleveland, Ohio and St.Barnabas Church in Dulwich, South London. The continuing popularity of stained glass ensures that this artistic medium will continue to grow giving steady work to today’s stained glass artists like Rod Friend and Johannes Steuck who are both bringing the magic of stained glass to a new and younger audience. Both artists take commissions and can be contacted through Baroque Glass