The stained-glass windows of Englands cathedrals illuminate interior spaces, communicate religious and other messages, and perhaps offer a glimpse of heaven. This book tells the remarkable story of these much-loved works of art.
The stained-glass windows of Englands cathedrals illuminate interior spaces, communicate religious and other messages, and perhaps offer us a glimpse of heaven. This book tells the remarkable story of these much-loved works of art.
Divine Light features glass from every Church of England cathedral. It spans nearly 850 years, beginning with the windows installed at Canterbury Cathedral following the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 and representing every subsequent century in the history of English stained glass. Divine Light encompasses the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the hugely productive long 19th century, the Pre-Raphaelites, the Arts and Crafts movement, the creative commissions of the 20th century, and the innovative glass being commissioned by cathedrals today.
The book establishes the connections between the artistic beauty of stained glass, its effectiveness as a narrative medium, and the various technical developments that have shaped the work of practitioners over the centuries. The refraction of light through colored glass emerges as an early form of mass communications that retains its power to move and inspire today.
Preface
Glossary
Acknowledgements
The Middle Ages and the Reformation
1180 Canterbury Cathedral: The Sower, Second Bible Window
1260 York Minster: The Five Sisters Window
1330s Lincoln Cathedral: Bishops Eye Rose Window
1340 Wells Cathedral: The Jesse Window
1359 Carlisle Cathedral: East Window
1360 Gloucester Cathedral: The Great East Window
14058 York Minster: The Great East Window (John Thornton of Coventry)
1400s Hereford Cathedral: Patchwork Window
1500 St Edmundsbury Cathedral: The Susanna Window
1509 St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle: The West Window
1631 Oxford Cathedral: The Jonah Window (Abraham van Linge)
1665 Winchester Cathedral: The Great West Window
16751710 St Pauls Cathedral, London: Sir Christopher Wren Windows
1735 Westminster Abbey: The Great West Window (Sir James Thornhill)
1770 Ely Cathedral: St Peter Window (James Pearson)
1781 Salisbury Cathedral: The Moses Window (James Pearson)
The Long Nineteenth Century
1804 Lichfield Cathedral: The Herkenrode Glass, created 1532
184061 St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle: Thomas Willement Stained Glass
1864 Bradford Cathedral: Women of the Bible West Window (Heaton, Butler &
Bayne)
1866 Newcastle Cathedral: The Chemists Window (William Wailes)
1878 St Germans Cathedral, Isle of Man: Jacobs Ladder Window (Alexander
Gibbs & Co.)
1875 Worcester Cathedral: Creation and Fall West Window (John Hardman
Powell)
1887 Truro Cathedral: Victorian Glazing Scheme (Clayton & Bell)
1897 Birmingham Cathedral: Last Judgement Window (Sir Edward
Burne-Jones)
19012 Gloucester Cathedral: Lady Chapel Windows (Christopher Whall)
1905 Chelmsford Cathedral: The Holderness Window (Henry Holiday)
1905 Southwark Cathedral: The Harvard Chapel Window (John La Farge)
1905 Wakefield Cathedral: The Childrens Window (C.E. Kempe)
191018 Rochester Cathedral: The Annunciation Window
1914 Peterborough Cathedral: Dean Barlow Memorial Window (James
Powell & Sons)
The Modern Age
1920s Chester Cathedral: The Cloister Windows (including Trena Cox)
1921 Exeter Cathedral: The Drake Memorial Window and Blessed
James of Ulm, Patron of Glaziers
1939 Guildford Cathedral: Round East Window (Moira Forsyth)
1948 Sheffield Cathedral: The Te Deum Window (Christopher Webb)
1953 Bristol Cathedral: Windows in the East Walk of the Cloister
1956 Portsmouth Cathedral: Dunkirk and D-Day Windows
1962 Coventry Cathedral: The Baptistery Window (John Piper and Patrick
Reyntiens)
1964 Norwich Cathedral: The Benedictines in England Window (Moira Forsyth)
1964 Derby Cathedral: All Souls and All Saints Window (Ceri Richards)
1972 Manchester Cathedral: The West Windows, including the St George
Window (Antony Hollaway)
1975 Liverpool Cathedral: The Benedicite, Great West Window (Carl Edwards)
1977 Ripon Cathedral: St Wilfrid Window (Harry Harvey)
1978 Chichester Cathedral: The Chagall Window
1980 Salisbury Cathedral: Prisoners of Conscience Windows (Gabriel Loire)
1989 St Albans Cathedral: North Transept Rose Window (Alan Younger)
1996 Southwell Minster: The Angel Window (Patrick Reyntiens)
1999 Blackburn Cathedral: Cathedral Lantern Glass (Linda Walton)
2000 Ely Cathedral: Processional Way Windows (Helen Whittaker)
2016 Leicester Cathedral: Redemption Windows (Thomas Denny)
2019 Durham Cathedral: The Illumination Window (Mel Howse)
Index
For eight years the Church of Englands Director of Church Buildings and Secretary of the Church Buildings Council and Cathedrals Fabric Commission, Canon Janet Gough OBE has written three illustrated paperbacks to encourage wider enjoyment of these extraordinary buildings, Director's Choice: Churches of the Church of England, Director's Choice: Cathedrals of the Church of England and most recently (2022) Deans' Choice: Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales. A Cambridge graduate in History and History of Art, Janet worked at Sothebys for nine years, was a trustee at the Churches Conservation Trust, the Museum of Fulham Palace and the Friends of the V&A and guided and lectured at the V&A. Janet advised Royal Mail on the special Christmas 2024 stamps, which featured five cathedrals from across the UK. Janet received an OBE for services to heritage in 2017, and in 2021 was made one of the first lay Canons of Bangor cathedral.
