News and events

Two new books on stained glass were published by Sulien Books in the spring of 2025. One describes the stained glass at the Church of St John the Evangelist at Porthmadog, and the other is the first publication by the press on a church outside Wales – on the stained glass at Holy Trinity Church, Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire. It was researched and written by Ian Pykett, with photography by Martin Crampin.

I will be speaking at an event in Bangor on Biblical Landscapes in June.

 

More work for the Curious Travellers Project

In April 2024 I designed a book with colleagues at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies for the Curious Travellers project. This accompanies an exhibition, which I also designed the information panels for, at Greenfield Valley Heritage Park near Holywell.

Around the same time I set up a website for Whitford church as part of a strategy to make it into a Heritage Hub for the area, and am writing a booklet on the church with my colleague Mary-Ann Constantine. I also designed explanatory panels and a booklet for a further project exhibition at Gilbert White's House in Selborne, Hampshire, in spring 2025, working with colleagues from the Natural History Museum and the University of Cambridge.

 

Capturing the Moment Symposium, Swansea

A day symposium at Swansea College of Art was held on 25 November 2023 to reflect on the stained glass archives in Swansea College of Art and elsewhere in Wales. Speakers included Dr Jasmine Allen (Stained Glass Museum, Ely), Dr Reinhard Köpf (Heritage Department, Mönchengladbach) and some of the major figures in British architectural stained glass artists who trained or taught on the Stained Glass course in Swansea.

Alexander Beleschenko, Amber Hiscott and Rodney Bender recalled their time in Swansea College of Art in a panel discussion, as well as the German artists who were invited over to Swansea by Tim Lewis, head of the stained glass course from 1972 until 1995.

A visit to see the stained glass at Coychurch Crematorium took place on the following day, when Roger Hayman, Rodney Bender, Alex Beleschenko and Christian Ryan spoke about their work for the crematorium. I have been working on a book about the stained glass at Coychurch Crematorium that I hope wil be published in 2025.

 

Saints and Stained Glass for the Ports, Past and Present project

In the closing months of the Ports, Past and Present project I published books on stained glass in two of the port towns that were the focus of the project.

Stained Glass in Fishguard was produced in association with St Mary’s in Fishguard and includes stained glass from churches in the town, a panel in the town library, and stained glass from churches in Goodwick and Manorowen. Copies are available from the church or from Sulien Books.

A second book included stained glass from churches in Holyhead and from othr churches on Holy Island. It was launched with a walking tour of the windows on 1 July 2023, beginning at the Maritime Museum where two windows from St Seiriol’s, demolished in the 1990s, are now on display. More about these books can be found on the Stained Glass from Welsh Churches blog.

A series of short illustrated articles relating to stained glass and journeys of the saints across the Irish Sea are found were prepared for the project, making use of these stories to develop tourist narratives.

 

 

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