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VIDIMUS

The international on-line magazine about medieval and renaissance stained glass

Trial test - extracts


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Like a Phoenix from the Ashes: The Medieval Stained

Glass of Coventry Cathedral

Fig. 1. Winston Churchill inspects the ruins of the cathedral, 28 September, 1941.

Nearly seventy years after the devastating bombing raid on Coventry which left St Michaels

cathedral a charred and gutted shell, exciting new discoveries are being made about the

medieval glass that was removed from the church in 1939 for safekeeping and which stillremains in storage - largely unknown and rarely seen. [Fig. 1]

But first some background. Before the Reformation the medieval diocese of Coventry &

Lichfield was served by not one but two cathedrals. In Coventry the vast cathedral church

(425 feet long) was part of St Marys Priory, a Benedictine monastery largely complete by c.

1250. Lichfield, by contrast, was a secular cathedral and until the dissolution of the greater

monasteries in 1539 the two chapters took it in turns to elect the bishop. After the

Reformation, St Marys was almost entirely demolished, the only cathedral in England tosuffer such a fate during the Henrician reforms. With the power to elect bishops now residing

solely with the Lichfield chapter, the ordering of the diocesan names was reversed and in

1836 episcopal responsibility for Coventry was transferred to the care of Worcester. In 1918

the modern diocese of Coventry was created and rather than build a new cathedral from

scratch, it was decided to convert the parish church of St Michael, at 293 feet (89 metres)

long the largest in the city, into this role. The glass discussed in this article comes from that

church.

Fig. 2. Pre-1939 external photograph of the nave clerestory windows showing glazed panels.

St Michaels, probably an Anglo-Saxon foundation, is first mentioned by name in a charter

granted between 1144 and 1148, but the earliest part of the surviving church is the south


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porch (now the Haigh chapel), which dates from the middle of the 13th century. The tower

bearing the famous steeple which survived the Blitz, and which still stands today, was begun

in the 1370s when Coventry was one of the most prosperous cities in medieval England,enriched by the wool and cloth trades. About twenty years later, the church itself was rebuilt,

starting at the east end. The rare five window polygonal apse in the chancel belongs to this

period. The height of the tower and spire (295 ft.) is only exceeded at Salisbury and Norwich.

During the late Middle Ages the church had strong associations with the Trinity guild, the

most important in the city. At the end of the 15th century there appear to have been ten altars

in the church besides the high altar, each with its own chapel and chantry: the altar of the

Blessed Virgin Mary; the Jesus altar; the Trinity altar and the altars of St. John, St. Anne, St.

Katherine, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, and All Saints.

The pre-Reformation glazing scheme was evidently as rich and varied as the number and

dedications of the altars. Among the subjects were narratives of Christs Passion and

Resurrection, images of the Last Judgement, hymns to the Virgin, sequences of angels,

figures of the Apostles and depictions of the Sacraments. It also seems, from survivingfragments, that some of the windows contained individual images or narrative cycles relating

to the saints associated with the churchs altars, and that donor images, representing

members of the guilds who gave glass to the church were a common feature of the scheme.

One such candidate would have been John Botoner, the wealthy wool merchant whose family

funded the rebuilding of the church. By the mid-19th century, however, it appears that most

of St Michaels medieval glass had been lost. Photographic evidence shows that the survivingfragments had been leaded into mosaic style panels and installed in the two westernmost

windows of the apse and between bands of plain quarried glass in the nave clerestory

windows. One remnant of this work is a panel bearing the signature of a plumber and the date

1857, but no records have been found documenting where this glass was collected fromwithin the church before being installed in these new settings. [Fig. 2]

As the second world war approached, the medieval glass was packed into thirty wooden

crates and sent to Hampton Lucy rectory, a large 18th-century house in a small village of the

same name about four miles north of Stratford-on-Avon. However, instead of leaving theRectory in 1945, the glass remained undisturbed in the cellars until the house was sold in

1957. When the crates were eventually repatriated, they returned to a very different cathedralfrom the one they had left.

Shortly after the destruction of St Michaels, it had been decided to build a new cathedral

near the site of the ruined building. A public competition for the design of the replacementcathedral was won by Basil Spence (19071976), a Modernist architect who was

subsequently knighted for his work in Coventry. Building work began in 1955 and the new

cathedral was formally consecrated in 1962.

Basil Spence had always been keen to incorporate some of the medieval glass within his

overall design and in 1962 he nominated the Industrial Chapel (now the Chapel of Industry)

as a preferred site. Other possibilities included the circular Chapter House (below theIndustrial Chapel) and St Michaels Hall, a large public space often used for exhibitions.

Provost H.C.N. (Bill) Williams, a key figure in the new cathedral, suggested a fourth

location, a small chapel in the south porch of the adjacent ruined building known as the

Chapel of Resurrection, now known as the Haigh chapel in memory of Mervyn Haigh,


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(18871962), Bishop of Coventry from 1931 to 1942 and subsequently Bishop of

Winchester.

Fig. 3. Angel, the Haigh chapel.

Fig. 4. Female donors, the Haigh chapel.

Fig. 5. Chalice with Consecrated wafer, the Haigh chapel.

Later that same year one of Sir Basils associates, the architect Anthony Blee, together with

Dr Peter Newton, the pioneering stained glass scholar, and author of the CVMA catalogue of

Oxfordshire, met with the conservator Dennis King to sift through the returned crates and

select suitable examples for the first phase of the campaign, the glazing of the Haigh chapel.

Some of the pieces they chose had been illustrated in a short article about the cathedral glass

which had appeared in 1950 (see below: Chatwin). Subsequently all the crates were

dispatched to the King workshop in Norwich where various panels were unleaded and the keyfragments extracted. In March 1965 these fragments were installed in the chapel. They


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included tracery light-sized angels, a group of female donor figures, and a chalice with a

wafer depicting the crucifixion. [Figs. 3, 4 and 5] The installation in the Haigh Chapel proved

to be a great success. In 1980 the crates were returned to the cathedral so that a team from theYork Glaziers Trust could unlead more of the mosaic glass in order to create seven new

panels of exceptionally well-preserved subjects: six seraphs standing on wheels holding

inscriptions, probably once in tracery lights, and a figural scene depicting the resurrectedChrist emerging from his tomb (part of a Passion cycle). These were installed in St Michaels

Hall in 1981 and form a very impressive grouping. [Fig. 6, 7, 8 and 9]

Fig. 6. Medieval glass in St Michaels Hall.

Fig. 7. Seraph, St Michaels Hall.

Fig. 8. The Resurrection, St Michaels Hall.


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Fig. 9. Detail of the sleeping soldiers from The Resurrection, St Michaels Hall.

Fig. 10. Mosaic` panel now in the Chapter House.

Just over another decade passed before the next initiative. In 1992 one of the citys largest

employers, the insurance giant, Axa Equity & Law, funded the conservation of three mosaic

panels and three more seraph figures. Once again the work was undertaken by Peter Gibson

and the York Glaziers Trust. When the crates were re-opened for another selection of pieces

to be made, the glass was examined by experts from English Heritage and photographed.

Initially the new panels were exhibited in display cabinets in the companys own city centre

offices but in 2002, following a change of ownership in the company, both the glass and the

cabinets were transferred to the Chapel of Industry, directly above the Chapter House wherethey can now be seen by visitors to the Cathedral. [Fig. 10]

The completion of these projects still left a large number of fragments loosely scattered in

their original packing crates where they lay on trays separated by strips of foam rubber.Despite English Heritage's misgivings about these storage conditions, the glass may have

remained in that state but for some sensational discoveries in 2003 during the closure of theKing workshop, giving new impetus to interest in the Coventry glass. A survey of the

premises by Michael King and the then CVMA Project Director, Dr Tim Ayers, foundseveral trays of forgotten fragments belonging to St Michaels, including some fine

individual pieces, which were subsequently sent to Holy Well Glass in Wells for safe

keeping. A short time later, and just as dramatically, some of the still intact pre-World War II

leaded panels were also found and returned to Coventry. In 2008 the unused glass in storage


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at Coventry was shelved in a purpose-built system in the new cathedral, made by cathedral

volunteer, Dr Mike Stansbie, FRCS. Earlier this year the fragments recovered from the King

workshop in 2003, and which had been sent to Holy Well glass in Wells for safe-keeping,were also returned to Coventry: finally re-uniting all of the remains from St Michaels. [Fig.

11]

In total, the collection now amounts to at least several thousand unsorted pieces spread across

127 trays, plus hundreds more leaded into 40 of the original and still largely intact pre-World

War II mosaic panels which had been removed in 1939. Although many of the individual

pieces are small, it is still possible to recognise fragments from a Last Judgement scene

(naked souls and devils), nimbed apostles, a roundel probably depicting a Labour of the

Month, the remains of several donor figures, numerous border and canopy fragments, parts of

angel figures (several playing musical instruments), various black letter inscriptions, a few

decorative quarries, several small roundels with holy monograms, several dozen jewelled

inserts, and a good collection of finely painted heads. Most of the pieces are white glass,painted and yellow stained. Pot metal glass is rare, but where it exists the colours are

primarily red and blue. Collectively, the colours of the glass remains reflect English glazingtrends of the late 14th and first half of the 15th century. [Figs. 12, 13, 14 and 15]

Fig. 11. Dr Mike Stansbie with the glass.

Fig. 12. Devil.


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Fig. 13. Holy Monogram roundel.

Fig. 14. Unidentified male nimbed head.

Fig. 15. Unidentified female nimbed head.

Interestingly, much of the glass shows little sign of corrosion or heavy pitting. Similar

observations have been made about other medieval glass in the city at St Marys Hall, the

Hall of the Trinity Guild, (Rudebeck, 2007). With the permission of the Dean and Chaptersome of the Cathedral fragments are now being examined by Professor Ian Freestone and his

team as part of their Leverhulme Trust funded study on The Composition, Corrosion and

Origins of Medieval Window Glass (see Vidimus 28).

This study may reveal something of the origins of the glass itself used at Coventry, but thepainting of the cathedral glass can almost certainly be attributed to one or more local


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workshops. Coventry is known to have been home to glaziers since at least the 13th century.

A Thomas le Glasewright is mentioned in the city as early as 1287 and William le

Glasenwryght appears in documents written between 1302 and 1317. 14th- and 15th-centuryregisters record a number of glaziers including John Halus and William Glasier, who were

members of the Merchant and Trinity guilds (see: Lancaster). Certainly there would have

been plenty of work for glass painters in such a thriving city and its surrounds. Excavations atthe Priory site in 1965 recovered large numbers of fragments which Peter Newton dated to

13101330. These included the face of an unidentified young woman which was found at the

inner western end of the church as if it had been punched though from the outside. It is nowon display in the St Marys Priory Visitors centre. [Fig. 16] As the Priory church also

possessed a miracle-working shrine which contained the head and other relics of its founding

mother saint, St Osburga, it is possible that one (or more) of the windows depicted her image.

Apart from the huge Priory cathedral church and St Michaels church, the city had several

other major churches built and glazed in the late Middle Ages. These included the parishchurch of The Holy Trinity (which includes a mosaic window of medieval glass in a very

different style to that preserved in the cathedral), a now lost 303-feet long church belongingto the Whitefriars (Carmelites) which was still being worked on in the second quarter of the

15th century, a church of the Greyfriars (Franciscans) of which only a 230 foot steeple built

c. 1359 now survives (now known as Christchurch), and the collegiate church of St John the

Baptist. [Fig. 17]

More significantly, one of the most important discoveries from preliminary examinations of

the cathedral glass is that many pieces share stylistic similarities with windows attributed to

the workshop of one of the most eminent and accomplished glaziers of the late Middle Ages,

John Thornton of Coventry. Thorntons work has been traditionally associated primarily

with York Minster where the contract for the Great East window, made between 1405 and1408, named Thornton as the glazier. The c.1415 St William window in the north aisle of the

Minster choir (nVII) has also been attributed to him on stylistic grounds. Other windows inthe city have been assigned to Thorntons workshop, including the Pricke of Conscience

window at the church of All Saints, North Street. [Fig. 18]

Fig. 16. Unidentified female head excavated from St Marys Priory, Coventry. and by

courtesy of The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.


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Fig. 17. Detail from the mosaic panel at Holy Trinity church.

Fig. 18. Pricke of Conscience window donor figures, All Saints church, North Street, York.

Gordon Plumb.

Fig. 19. Map showing the location of Johns Thornton workshop in The Burges, Coventry.

The arrow head indicates the position of the plaque. George Demidowicz.

Fig. 20. George Demidowicz with the plaque to John Thornton.


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Although nothing is known for certain about Thornton of Coventry before his name appears

in the contract for the Minsters Great East window, he may have come from a family of

glass painters and might be the same, or related to a, John de Thornton who was listed asholding a tenement in Coventry in 1371. In either event it seems likely that he was

recommended for the York project either by Archbishop Scrope, who had been Bishop of

Coventry and Lichfield 135985, or by the donor of the window, Walter Skirlaw, who hadheld the same See immediately after Scrope in 1385. Despite running a workshop in York

and being made a Freeman of that city in 1410, Thornton seems to have retained his links

with Coventry. He is recorded as living in the St Johns Bridges (Burges) district of Coventry

in 1411 and acquiring the lease of this house in 1413. Medieval Coventry was a compact city

and this street, which survives today, was only two minutes walking distance from the now

lost Priory gatehouse. A post-medieval house on the site of Thorntons property was

demolished between the two World Wars as part of the citys modernisation and the new

building line set back several feet. In 1956 the historian, Joan Lancaster, published a map

indicating where Thornton had lived. Recent research by the citys head of Conservation and

Archaeology, George Demidowicz, has identified a more precise location. Using 19th-

century Ordnance Survey maps of the city, his meticulous reconstruction is shown below andis commemorated publicly by a wall-mounted plaque where the workshop stood in the 15th

century. [Figs. 19 and 20]

Apart from retaining a residence in the city it seems almost certain that John Thornton also

ran a glazing business in Coventry concurrent with his activities in York. Stylistic similarities

with Thorntons work at York, and perhaps most especially in the St William window, can be

seen not only in some of the Coventry cathedral fragments, but also at other sites across the

wider midlands region. These include remains in parish churches, such as the donor image ofJohn Mersden (d.1425) in the east window of All Saints church at Thurcaston

(Leicestershire), as well as the spectacular large-scale narrative of the Passion in the Eastwindow of the Benedictine priory at Great Malvern (Worcs.). Indeed, it is possible that

Thornton, or others associated with him, was responsible for coordinating the glazing of

much of the choir of this important church (Gilderdale Scott 2008). [Figs. 21, 22, 23 and 24]

As an artist Thornton has been credited with a key role in disseminating a highly

accomplished version of the International Gothic style of glass painting, with its

characteristic soft modelling and greater realism, to the Midlands and the north of England.

Professor Richard Marks has described his expressive faces as using relatively heavyshading and generally featuring small mouths and rather elongated noses with a bulbous

tip. Recent work on glass in Thorntons style is also beginning to suggest Thorntons success

may also have been due to other skills beyond his brushwork, including his ability to translateand interpret the needs of his clients into effective vitreous form, and his capacities as a

workshop manager (Gilderdale Scott, forthcoming)


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Fig. 21. Figure from the St William window, York Minster.

Fig. 22. Figure from the Haigh chapel, Coventry.

Fig. 23. Unidentified head in storage.


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Fig. 24. John Mersden, All Saints church, Thurcaston, Leics.

The thousands of glass fragments surviving from St Michaels church, Coventry, have an

important part to play in understanding this accomplished glazier. Hopefully, funds will soonbecome available to document and record the surviving medieval glass from the cathedral

leading, in turn, to its conservation and eventual redisplay in the city where it was made.

Roger Rosewell

Thanks

I am extremely grateful to The Dean and Chapter of Coventry Cathedral; the generosity of Dr

Mike Stansbie FRCS; George Demidowicz, Head of Conservation and Archaeology,

Coventry City Council; Paul Thompson Keeper of Collections, The Herbert Art Gallery &

Museum; Heather Gilderdale Scott; Steve Clare (Holy Well Glass); and Nick Teed of the

York Glaziers Trust for their help with this item.

Further Reading:

P. B. Chatwin, Medieval Stained Glass from the Cathedral, Coventry, Transactions

of the Birmingham Archaeological Society, LXVI, 1950, pp. 15 (plus 21 b/w

illustrations on eight plates)

T. French, John Thorntons monogram in York Minster,Journal of Stained Glass,

XIX , 198990, pp. 1823

J. C. Lancaster, John Thornton of Coventry, Glazier, Transactions of theBirmingham Archaeological Society, LXXIV, pp. 5659

R. Marks, Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages, London, 1993, esp., pp.

180183

D. McGrory,A History of Coventry, Chichester, 2003L. Monckton, St Michaels Coventry: The Architectural History of a Medieval Urban

Parish Church, inArt, Architecture and Archaeology in Medieval Coventry and itsVicinity, British Archaeological Association Transactions for Coventry, Leeds:

forthcoming, L. Monckton and R.K.Morris (eds)

P. A. Newton, Report on the medieval stained glass, in B. Hobley. Excavations of

St Marys Coventry,Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, 1971,

pp. 107111Sir Basil Spence, Phoenix at Coventry: The Building of a Cathedral, London, 1962


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B. Rackham, The Glass Paintings of Coventry and its Neighbourhood, WalpoleSociety, XIX , 1931, pp. 89110

A. Rudebeck, John Thornton and the Stained Glass of St Mary's Hall, Coventry,

Journal of Stained Glass, 31, 2007, pp. 1434

M. Rylatt, Margaret and P. Mason. The Archaeology of the Medieval Cathedral and

Priory of St. Mary Coventry, Coventry: Coventry City Council, City DevelopmentDirectorate, 2003

W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History: A History of the County of Warwick,

8, London, 1969, especially, 'The City of Coventry: Crafts and Industries: Medieval

Industry and Trade', pp. 151157

H. Gilderdale Scott, 'The Painted Glass of Great Malvern Priory (Worcs.) c.1430

1500, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of London, 2008

H. Gilderdale Scott, John Thornton of Coventry: a Reassessment of the Role of aLate Medieval Glazier, inArt, Architecture and Archaeology in Medieval Coventry

and its Vicinity, British Archaeological Association Transactions for Coventry (Leeds,forthcoming) L. Monckton and R. K. Morris (eds)

P. Williamson,Medieval and Renaissance Glass from the Victoria and AlbertMuseum, London 2003, illustrates a panel probably from Coventry dated to c 1430

40, Museum iv. No C561953, illustrated as no. 42 on p. 61, described on p. 140

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