"One of the earliest records of glass in St Mary’s was by John Leland, who in 1530 was chaplain and librarian to Henry VIII; with the special position of king’s antiquary which was created for him in 1533. He was authorized to search cathedral and monastic libraries for manuscripts of historical interest. Probably from 1534 and certainly from 1536 to 1542 he was engaged on an antiquarian tour of England and Wales. He visited St Mary’s church in 1540 and commented:
'excellente newe, and unyforme yn worke, and so manie faire windows yn itt, yt noe artificer can imagine to set more.'Hood, assistant curate at St Mary’s, in his book published in 1910 referring to the quote by Leyland, goes on to say:
'He saw the church in the days before the Reformers in the fifteenth century and the Puritans in the century which followed, had bared the windows of the wealth of colour, which modern glass has not been able to surpass.'Hood says:
'Many of the pre-reformation windows bore heraldic shields which would leave room for the admission of sunshine.'In 1559 the Commissioners, under Archbishop Sandy of York, pronounced:
'the chancel to be in great decay and the windows without glass.'
An eighteenth century visitor described:
'a fine old lightsome building.'
Thoroton in 1677 states:
'The painted glass that formerly adorned the windows is now chiefly gone. The figure of St Andrew, however, still remains perfect, in a north window'
He also passed comment on stained glass ‘In a window of the south Ile’. This consisted of heraldic glass and Thomas Close FSA identified the evidence of four shields and their owners: 1st shield – The Earls of Arundel; 2nd shield – Richard II King of England before his marriage in 1381-1382; 3rd shield – Richard II after his marriage with his first Queen Anne of Bohemia in 1382; 4th shield – Barons Nevil of Raby later to become in 1397 Earls of Westmoreland.
Early records show a house in the churchyard in 1582-83 was lived in by:
'Bennyson the glasyer a house there. iiijs. And money was paid: to Lawrence Wurthe for v. barrs of iron that the glasyer vsed. xd.'
Much of the destruction of painted glass is blamed on the Puritans but a letter read at the Royal Archaeological Society at Salisbury at the end of the eighteenth century stated:
'Sir, - This day I have sent you a box full of old stained and painted glass as you desired me to due, wich I hope will sute your purpose. It is the best that I can get at present. But I expect to Beatt to Peceais a great deale very sune as it his of no use to we and we due it for the lead: if you want eney more of the same sorts you may have what thear his, if it will pay for taking out, as it is a Deal of truble to what Beating it to Peceais his etc... your most Omble servant John Berry'
John Berry was a glazier, of Salisbury.
From the accounts of 1806 payments for glaziers at St Mary’s are mentioned several times: Mr Cook, glazier, for work done from June 1804 to April 1805 £14 13s 0d. Ale for glaziers, &c. £1 17s 6d. Mr Cook, glazier £31 0s 0d. Mr Greasley, glazier, 7s 4d.
After the restoration work of 1839, ‘the stained glass artist was replaced by the upholsterer who was called in to keep the worshippers from the rays of the sun, and vast curtains were stretched over the windows.’ It was then realized that stained glass as well as being protection against the sun, was educational, and gave a new atmosphere inside the church so their restoration was started in 1865, when a memorial window to the Prince Consort was erected at the east end of the chancel. The subject of this window, surmounted as it is by the royal arms, is somewhat unsuitable for its position; and shortly afterwards Suffragan Bishop Trollope drew up a scheme of subjects for subsequent benefactions, which was followed in most of the earliest windows. Thus those on the south side of the chancel illustrate our Lord’s Life and Teaching; and those on the north the Acts of the Apostles. The great windows in the transepts represent, in the south the Parables, and in the north the Miracles, of the Gospels. Some of the smaller windows there illustrate the Prophetical Books, which with the rest of the Old Testament, were to provide subjects for the windows in the body of the church; but this scheme has not been followed in windows erected after the year 1890.
A public meeting was held on 14th November 1865 in the Exchange Hall, to plan further restoration of the Church. The chair was occupied by the Right Hon Lord Belper, Lord Lieutenant of the county, and also present were the Right Hon Earl Manvers, the Right Hon J Evelyn Denison, the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, the Mayor (Mr Ball), the vicar the Rev Francis Morse and many other notable persons of the Town.
A circular was distributed in the hall from Mr G Gilbert Scott’s survey which gave a long list of remedial work which needed attention and said ‘the windows are bedaubed with dirty stain’. It was followed by:
'But the chief beauty of St Mary’s of old consisted in its Windows, which are so many, that it is almost necessary to have at least the principle ones of Stained Glass, and no restoration could be deemed complete which did not embrace this. There must therefore be added to Mr. Scott’s estimate, the following for windows:
Chancel windows (7 in number) ] in [ £1400
West Window ] stained [ 1000
North Transept Window ] glass [ 1000
South Transept Window ] [ 1000
The rest of the Windows re-glazed
In Cathedral Glass 600
--------
Total £5000
This was the start of the extensive stained glass we now see in St Mary’s.
In St Mary’s there are 37 stained and/or painted glass windows containing 384 lights in total."
SOURCE and an excellent account of the wondows - (
visit link)