Leaded Lights for Ecclesiastical Settings
Case Study: Re-glazing the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral
Keith Barley is Master Glazier of Ely Cathedral, and has worked on the glazing there over many years. The Lady Chapel at Ely, the largest Lady Chapel in Europe, was entirely re-glazed by Barley Studio as part of a major restoration of the Cathedral. The previous glazing, in mixed tints of Victorian glass, imparted a dull, somewhat ‘sub-aqueous’ feel to the building, and architect Peter Miller (Purcell Miller Tritton) wished to re-create the bright post-Reformation glazing common to churches throughout Norfolk and Suffolk. New lights were produced using our Barley Bent ‘BB3’ glass, replicating the appearance of cylinder glass, cut into diamond quarries of traditional size. Painted logos of major donors were incorporated at the base of each window. The result is a light, bright interior to the Chapel with a lively, sparkling appearance from the exterior.
As part of the same project, the fragmentary remains of the original fourteenth-century medieval stained and painted glass were collected, re-ordered and inserted into the heads and tracery of the central window of the South wall. Historic eighteenth-century crown glass quarries found in various windows were also collected together into the glazing of this window.
