Day Tripper

I've been ranging far afield these last couple of weeks, and have seen several churches from different eras, and LOTS of glass!!! I'll start with our daytrip to Norbury, Derbyshire and Checkley, Staffordshire, which was rescheduled, after having been cancelled twice in December, due to snow.

We met at the Kings Manor early on a Saturday morning, and all piled into a minibus. It was a funny little affair, all white, with white rims and a big Mercedes logo on the front. You half expected some famous rapper and his entourage to come out of it. So in typical fashion, it was snowing again; first snow we've had since the last planned trip was cancelled! Not that this slowed our dear driver down at all. We careened out to the motorway, taking round-abouts on two wheels. Did I mention that I am a nervous passenger? It was not a pleasant ride.

Our driver assured the course director that he didn't need help with directions, because he knew exactly where we were going. You would have thought the pimp-bus came with a GPS, but not so. Well he managed to find the only other town in England called Norbury, which was not the Norbury we were supposed to be going to. Luckily, it was only an hour or so out of the way, and after another hour of hair raising, careening, back-road driving hell, we made it to our destination. We actually made it to Checkley, our second destination, where we headed to first because it was closer to Norbury II.

So let me tell you about the glass.
Checkley and Norbury are both very old, small parish churches, first built in the late 13th century. Both have spectacular chancels with amazing original glass. The glass at Checkley has protective glazing, which sits on the outside of the glass, and protects it from the weather and further deterioration of the glass. The glass at Norbury, unfortunately, has gone many years needing protective glazing, and not having it.  After extensive cleaning in just 2004, it is covered in algae and micro-organisms again. Both are amazing, fantastic churches, with a lot of other beautiful furnishings and fabric (original materials) from the 13th century.

Here are some photos from St.Mary and All Saints in Checkley, Staffordshire...

Early 14th century glass

Tracery with heraldic shields

The martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket, a rare image to see in glass after The Reformation

Saint Stephen, being stoned to death, and some more lovely grisaille glass. Grisaille is the clear glass which is painted with intricate foliage patterns.

The labors or past-times of the month. This one is March. These were moved from the rectory into the chancel and date from the 17th century.

July.

October

Stunning 19th century glass from the South aisle. I LOVE this glass!

Beautiful alter pieces

Godfrey and Margaret, alabaster stone sarcophagus

Dated 1560

Old graffiti, poor Margaret!

Godfrey

The churchyard

Sofia in amongst the greenery. It was sooo damp here. Everything was covered in green.

After leaving checkley, we went on to Norbury to the church of St Mary and St Barlok. This church is the most damp church ever recorded in England! Check out the algae on the walls and glass. Still a beautiful place, and scheduled for futher conservation and protective glazing in the coming year.

The churchyard

Some more heraldry

Another fine alabaster tomb.

Exquisitely detailed

A sheep or dog at the foot of the master?

 

Lovely blue glass, my favorite color.

Finely detailed grisaille glass.

A peaceful resting place.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. The next installment will be about our trip to the East Riding of Yorkshire featuring High Victorian architecture by Street, and some wonderful 19th century glass. Stay tuned!

Summer Placements!!!

Just a quick post to fill you in on my next big adventure: The Summer Placement!  although called the summer placement, it actually starts in the beginning of May and will last for 18 weeks. I will be sharing 2 placements with another student, Paul, who also has a family and needs to stay in the York area. (other students are going to Wells, Glasgow, New York, Belgium, and Germany) We will do 9 weeks each at the York Glaziers Trust and The National Railway Museum.

I am particularly excited about the York Glaziers Trust. I have longed to work with the "YGT" for over 8 years. In 2003 when we were visiting York Minster, I asked myself  "how does a person get to work there?!" Well, here I am 8 years later fulfilling that dream! At the time, the program that I am in didn't actually exist; it's only in its third year.  It pays to be persistent!

The York Glaziers Trust cares for the glass in York Minster, (see photo of Chapter House above) which spans 800 years of glass-making, beginning in the early 13th century. Their current main project is the conservation of the Great East Window, which was made by the Master Glazier John Thornton and his workshop in the early 15th century. It is well documented that the window was originally completed in three years, however the current restoration is expected to take ten! The Great East Window is the largest expanse of Medieval stained glass in the world! I will be lucky to get an up close look at it, and maybe they'll let me watch while they work on it. I wouldn't expect to personally work on it at this stage in my education. But I do hope to learn alot from the team at YGT. I have met a few of the staff before, and in fact, Nancy who was my lecturer for Basic Glass Handling from last term, is now working there. I start May 3rd!! Here's a few more photos of the Chapter House at York Minster...

Beautiful, hand painted Chapter House floor tiles

                                          Chapter House Painted Ceiling

Gilded Ceiling Boss

Colored Narrative Bands alternating with Bands of Grisaille Glass

Eight Hundred-year old glass

More amazing floor tiles...

OK, so I think you get the idea. I am soooo excited to be working with the YGT this summer!

Although surprised to be also working with the National Railway Museum, I feel like I will be getting a bonus for my resume and experience; other students will only be at one workshop or museum, so I am lucky to be getting more than one experience. You may be wondering what the National Railway Museum has to do with glass? I was thinking the same thing. As I discovered, the National Railway Museum in York houses all of the memorabilia associated with Britain's long railway history, in addition to the wonderful collection of trains. The collection goes back to the great days of rail travel. Prior to the World Wars, the rail system in Great Britain was a multitude of private companies, vying for the public's attention and business. The competition meant that they tried to out-do each other in luxurious boardrooms, trains, and platform amenities, like tea rooms and restaurants. The stained glass collection comes from this era.  After the World Wars, the whole system was brought into the fold of the national government.  While at the museum, I will be focusing on collections management, which will be a great thing to have on my resume. (think Walters Art Gallery, Smithsonian...) Here are a few pictures from the museum. These are from a quick trip that Sofia and I made, before I knew about my placement, hence no glass...

Door handle from a Royal train

The Royal tassles!

Sofia and Thomas the Tank Engine

I'll end there, but stay tuned for more happenings. I promise to write more, and more often!
xo Clare

How Old is Old?

THE ESSAY is finished! With a huge sigh of relief, I can say that I have finished, and turned in, my main research paper for last term. It is the main item that I will be graded on for the History and Theory of Stained Glass module. The assignment was to analyze 3 windows in All Saints North Street, which is a Parish church here in York.

In the course of my research,  I went to the local library looking for information on a particular stained glass conservator from the 1800’s. After looking  through the card index (yes, I did write CARD INDEX, their older listings haven’t been entered into the computer system yet) I found a listing for the gentleman in question, John W. Knowles, who worked on these windows in 1861. The card listed scrapbooks; I thought they must be copies of his workbooks or a transcription.  Much to my surprise, the librarian came out from the back  and said “Here you go, Volumes 1 and 2” and handed me his actual scrapbooks….FROM 1861! These would definitely be in a museum in the States, and if they weren’t, they definitely would not be handed out to any random person asking to see them. They’d most likely be in a vault in the basement of the Smithsonian!  So how old is old? It’s very relative it seems. Here they casually handle items dating to the time of the American Civil War, and antiques are often from the 14^th or 15^th century. The Minsters foundations and the city walls date to Roman times, and the glass we are studying this week is from the 12^th-13^th century.  This is part of why I love it here!

Pencil sketch from John Knowles Scrapbooks; Study for glass to be painted.



I feel so lucky to be on this course and to have access to such a treasure trove of books. For a book lover like me it’s a dream. Yesterday, I spent a few hours perusing the York Minster library, which we have access to as part of the University’s Art History Department. They had a resource library with items that couldn’t be checked out, but the regular library included books from the 1800’s that you could take home with you, on subjects ranging from everything Shakespeare, the Kings and Queens of England, Architecture, Religion, and of course Stained Glass.   This foray was in search of information on Chartres Cathedral. I will do a presentation for the class on Monday on the Prodigal Son window there.

Today, I am off to the JB Morell Library on the Main Campus for further research. See photos below!

December Part 2

     Shortly after visiting Gargrave, I returned to the area with my class, Philosophical Approaches to Conservation. We were invited to go to Hellifield Peel, which is a recently restored "castle". The site has been occupied for 800+ years as an ancestral home, but in the last 50 years fell into ruin. It was last used as a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian soldiers during World War Two.
    Two years ago a local architect purchased Hellifield Peel (http://www.peelcastle.co.uk/) and embarked on a restoration project that involved English Heritage and was also featured on a British Television show called "Grand Designs". It was somewhat controversial, but had magnificent results. Due to the high cost of the project, the property is now being run as a bed and breakfast.  We were there to view and discuss the various treatments given to the historic fabric of the building.
     The best part of the day was going into the "Old Bedroom", where the centerpiece of the room is a huge, oak Tester bed, supplied by....my Uncle Hugh and his company Dickinson Antiques! I was on the lookout for it, since Uncle Hugh had told me about it the weekend before. You can see it on their website if you follow this link: http://www.peelcastle.co.uk/rooms/oldbedroom/oldbedroom.html.  I admit I did a fair bit of boasting about my family that day.
     What I didn't realize at the time is that I have another family connection to Hellifield Peel. My great Aunt and Uncle live in Hellifield about 1/4 mile from Hellifield Peel. We drove past their house on the way in and out of town.  My father and Uncle David used to spend summers there, and even had jobs delivering the newspaper, which would be flung off the train as it flew past the village. Unfortunately for me, I don't really know them, but it is amazing that they are still living there.