A month and a bit ago I shared some photos of the stained glass windows at Christ Church Anglican, here in Meaford. The church has about 20 stained glass windows, but some of them are quite special - they're made up of fragments of windows in bombed out churches in England from WWII.
Christ Church Anglican is a beautiful stone church, built originally in 1872. Harold Appleyard was chosen Rector in 1938, and left for England shortly thereafter as an Army Chaplain.
He was immediately struck by the hundreds of bombed-out churches in southern England with their shattered stained glass windows.
Appleyard began collecting fragments of the broken windows, thinking he would have the fragments put together into new memorial windows for his home church in Meaford. One day he was put in touch with cox and Barnard Stained Glass works, and the project came together though them
There are fragments from 125 churches in the 4 windows, and some fragments are 700 years old, among the oldest bits of glass in Europe.
You can arrange to see these windows on Tues. or Fri, 10-2 by contacting the church.
Impressive windows and an interesting tale. The backstories of salvaged and repurposed materials always adds interest to whatever they become.
ReplyDeleteAmazing works of Art that could be called early forms of Recycling.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and stay Warm through this Cold Spell.
It's about time.
They are very beautiful. And with such history, it makes them even more special. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis was a very long winding project. Not only did he find the glass but the history too.
ReplyDeleteLove your sharing of how things came about.
ReplyDeleteJoy
A beautiful church and stained glass windows. Wonderful story about the windows.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful recycling. Taking a course on churches and castles right now and it is a lovely history lesson as well.
ReplyDeleteMust be a 'feeling good' warm glow inside that church when sunlight filters through those beautiful stained glass windows.
ReplyDeletespecial indeed
ReplyDeleteSo the glass is older that your country so to speak. A great shame no one had presents of mind not to do the same here in the South of England. They looks amazing
ReplyDeleteHello, the windows are beautiful. I love stained glass, so colorful and pretty. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day, have a great weekend ahead.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful church! I love any old stone buildings. The Appleyard story is very interesting, I'm glad the windows came together for him. Beautiful. 700 years old!
ReplyDeleteThanks F.G.
That's fascinating, I had no idea that such a project had taken place. If some of the fragments are 700 years old then they may have been re-cycled twice as most of our church glass was smashed by Puritan iconoclasts in the seventeenth century.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous stained glass!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! What a wonderful project!
ReplyDeleteThose stained glass windows are lovely.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan