Work

Charterhouse in Godalming 2022

Charterhouse School, Godalming

I was approached by the Archivist from Charterhouse back in 2019. She didn’t know what to do with some old stained glass in the cellar that was destined for the skip. There were piles of leaded glass that had just about survived two fires while in storage and were so caked in soot and dirt that the images were barely visible.

Around 70 odd stained glass panels had been removed from the original chapel and library and put stored since the 1930’s. Most had been made by the London firm of Clayton & Bell, but there were some Henry Holiday windows that had been made at Whitefriars too.

What to do with it all? The first job was to clean and photograph the panels. Staff and students from the school helped as did the stained glass community at the adult education centre in Guildford, and various visitors to my studio.

Once they were professionally photographed by Mark Melling for the Archive we began dismantling some of them to repurpose. Many panels were re-leaded by my studio assistant, John Barzallo, for the school to sell, and others were kept for special projects.

In 2022 the school celebrated 150 years at the site in Godalming and commissioned a window incorporating some of the reclaimed glass for the newly refurbished lecture theatre. Other pieces have been used by students in the community to learn stained glass techniques.

Everyone who has worked on the project has been enthralled by the glass. We have a mission to use every piece of it in creative ways to save it from the skip and to help pass on the skills of stained glass to a new generation!

Dimensions of Lecture Theatre Windows: Two panels 1m x 0.6m and one panel 1.5m x 0.6m