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Church Stained Glass Windows

Overview

New: Stained glass windows for Gloucestershire added (July 2024)

This web site gives access to a database of 43,993 records of stained glass windows in 7,404 churches in 4,718 places in England. The navigation bar at the top of the page gives access to the Counties encompassed by the database. Listed for each County are the Towns and Villages and within them are the Churches whose windows have been recorded. For each Church are details of the stained glass windows.

The database may also be searched by Firm, Designer and other means via the Search link at the top right of the page.

The scope of the record

The record is of Victorian and later stained glass church windows, and their makers and designers.
Pre-Victorian stained glass windows are not recorded. Windows with stained glass in the tracery are only recorded in a few instances, eg where the main lights have been taken out recently.
It is not a complete record of grisaille and ornamental windows. Those where the designer/firm is known, those with texts and those that seemed worthy of mention as part of the church decoration are recorded.
For space reasons, small non-conformist and CofE/RC mission churches without stained glass are normally not mentioned.

Areas recorded

  • Bedfordshire – very largely recorded by Chris Pickford, formerly County Archivist for Bedfordshire
  • Berkshire – post 1974 boundary (ie North Berks excluded, but Slough area included)
  • Bournemouth Area (now in Dorset) (recorded as Dorset (ex Hants) by Brian Woodruffe)
  • Buckinghamshire – very largely recorded by Cliff & Monica Robinson – post 1974 boundary (i.e Slough area now in Berkshire, Linslade now in Bedfordshire.)
  • Cambridgeshire – post 1974 area includes the former Huntingdonshire & Soke of Peterborough (excluding Peterborough Town). Only CofE parish, Cambridge Colleges, Ely & Peterborough Cathedrals & some other churches with pictorial windows included. (Very largely recorded by Rev Steve Day)
  • Dorset (Bournemouth Area shown separately as Dorset (ex Hants)) (recorded by Brian Woodruffe)
  • Dorset (ex Hants) – Bournemouth Area (recorded by Brian Woodruffe)
  • Essex – post 1965 area, excluding Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Waltham Forest, found under Outer London (Essex)
  • Gloucestershire – churches visited on holidays comprehensively recorded. For other churches the record is greatly indebted to Alan Brooks in Buildings of England for attributions & window positions. Documentary & photographic sources also used.
  • Hampshire – except Bournemouth (now in Dorset)
  • Hertfordshire – post 1965 area, ie Potters Bar & South Mimms are included, but Barnet is not
  • Inner London
  • Isle of Wight
  • Kent (West) – not Bexley nor Bromley and corresponds with West Kent volume of ‘Buildings of England’
  • Kent (East) – corresponds with North East and East Kent volume of ‘Buildings of England’
  • Northumberland – churches visited on holidays comprehensively recorded. For other churches the record is limited to windows attributable through documentary & photographic sources & faculty applications
  • Outer London (formerly Essex) – boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge & Waltham Forest
  • Outer London (formerly Kent) – boroughs of Bexley and Bromley
  • Outer London (formerly Middlesex) – boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow (Churches in the former Middlesex borough of Twickenham are shown under Outer London (Surrey) with all former Richmond Borough churches
  • Outer London (formerly Surrey) – boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton
  • Oxfordshire South – area between Oxford and Reading
  • Oxfordshire (South)(ex Berkshire) – area in Berkshire until 1974, corresponds with revised Berkshire volume of ‘Buildings of England’ which stills includes this area.
  • Somerset – churches visited on holidays comprehensively recorded. For other churches the record is limited to windows attributable through documentary & photographic sources.
  • Staffordshire – post 1974 area – Dudley, Walsall, Wednesbury, West Bromwich & Wolverhampton areas not included. Cannock Chase & South Staffs Districts comprehensively recorded by Chris Pickford. Elsewhere the record is limited to windows attributable through documentary & photographic sources.
  • Surrey – post 1965 area, borough of Spelthorne is included, but Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond & Sutton are not
  • Sussex – east and west, including Brighton
  • Wiltshire – including Swindon (recorded by Brian Woodruffe for West Wiltshire)

The records have in total 6,995 churches – there is still some way to go for a complete record, and it is intended to provide a regular update (perhaps yearly) as more churches are visited and more documentation found.