The London Stained Glass Repository

Background:

The 19th century has been described as one of the golden ages in the art of stained glass.

The Oxford Movement and the Evangelical Movement had spurred on the Victorians to build thousands of new churches, particularly in working-class areas which the Anglican Church had not previously reached, and most of them were generously endowed with stained glass windows of a generally high standard of artistry.

Artists such as Burne-Jones, Henry Holiday, Kempe, Powell and William Morris and workshops such as Clayton and Bell and Heaton, Butler and Baynes were prolific in producing glass of great beauty.

After the Second World War, however, there began a steep and steady decline in church attendance, particularly in those areas in which the new churches had been built. Coincidentally, Victorian art and architecture had fallen out of fashion and was considerably less valued than it is today.

Between 1969 and 1982 alone, almost 1,000 Anglican churches were declared redundant, a quarter of which were demolished. Some of the glass went to other churches and a very small amount was kept for display in museums, but most of the glass was broken up into small panels for sale or even destroyed either during the demolition process or by vandals.

In March 1982 the London Stained Glass Repository was established as a charitable trust to rescue good quality glass and to find new homes for it. The trustees operate through a Management Committee which can call on the expertise of many associated organisations:

• The British Society of Master Glass Painters
• The Church Commissioners
• The Council for the Care of Churches
• English Heritage
• The Stained Glass Museum at Ely
• The Victoria and Albert Museum
• The Victorian Society
• The William Morris Gallery
• The Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass.

As a charity, the aims of the Repository aims are:

• to conserve our artistic heritage,
• education,
• rekindling interest in this ancient art form
• lending glass for display in museums and exhibitions as far afield as Japan.

Examples of glass saved by the London Stained Glass Repository include

• The Covenant Church of Jesus the Good Shepherd, Maryland, USA
• St. John the Divine, Kennington, London
• The American School, Regents Park, London