A window on centuries of history
Conservators apply finishing touches as preservation work on parish church draws to close after 25 years
IN A glazier’s thumbprint sealed in stained glass lies a link to the past which can be quite striking.
This is “history on the hoof ”, for conservators at Thornhill Parish Church, near Dewsbury, as preservation work draws to a close after a quarter of a century.
There are few collections that can rival the majesty of the medieval glass here, which is often described as among the finest in the North. For conservator Jonathan Cooke, who can read a craftsman’s hand in every sweep of the brush, unravelling these knots in time is a symbol of their significance.
“These windows are a direct link with the past,” he said. “To the people who made them and the people who have looked on them over the centuries.
“They are witnesses to key moments of sorrow and joy in the human journey. If we look after and acknowledge our past, it helps us look to the future.”
Thornhill, a site of Christian worship since Anglo-Saxon times, is known for its medieval windows and is mentioned in Simon Jenkin’s account of England’s best churches.
Custodians, concerned at their condition some 25 years ago, have worked to find funding, piece by piece, to protect each one. Now, as Mr Cooke replaces the second-to-last window, he begins on the final one.
The tools and techniques of the trade have not changed in centuries. In cutting the glass, to firing and colouring and shaping the lead, the original craftsman’s hand can be found.
“When you’re working on them it speaks – it is history on the hoof,” said Ruth Cooke, the co-director of the Ilkley-based family business. “It jumps across the centuries. You might find a thumbprint, or a glazier’s mark, and it takes you right back.”
The windows are preserved to near-museum conditions, with degraded glass covered in screens to keep out wind and rain after 600 years.
“They no longer have to serve the purpose of weather-proofing the building,” said Ms Cooke. “Now they can ‘retire’, if you like, so we can appreciate what the artists were doing it for.
“It’s our history. It’s our past. For the people who worshipped in this church in the Middle Ages, these windows would have taken them to another place. For a poor parishioner to see something glowing with colour would have been quite amazing in a way we take for granted now. “It’s hard to imagine. As long as these windows survive, we can still imagine.” For Mr Cooke, who as a boy had been fascinated by twists of sunlight on stained glass and who would go on to train as a Minster apprentice, the practicalities of such projects are always tinged with anxiety.
The feeling now, he said, is one of anticipation, and of hope the windows will be here for future generations to study and reflect upon, as their ancestors might have done.
Containing fragments from other windows in the church, these two windows are the final part of a “large historical jigsaw”.
“I am privileged to have been entrusted with its preservation, and lucky to have such inspiring work,” he added.
“This glass, which must have been so impressive to those who first saw it, still has that ‘wow’ factor.”
These windows are a direct link with the past. Jonathan Cooke, Stained Glass Conservation.