Conservation & Heritage Issue 52 Summer/Autumn 2026 - Flipbook - Page 8
St.Peter & St.Paul church,
Lavenham, Suffolk
Two adjacent windows on the South elevation are filled with a mix of rolled cathedral glass
scattered with an array of pressed quarries.
These were made by pouring glass into moulds pre-made with
motifs such as the fleurs-de-Lys, birds, floral and Christian
symbols that adorn these windows. The London firm of
James Powell and Sons acquired various patents for this type
of glass and also sold pre-made quarries to other studios and
were use prolifically during the late 19thC.
These 2 windows are comprised of 2 tiers of glazing which
were badly distorted. As their lead matrix was struggling
to support the glass, many of the panels had to be removed
for releading. There were many broken quarries of plain
glass that required replacing but the pressed quarries were
too rare and historically important to replace, so we edgebonded these and dipped into our archive that, fortunately,
contained a number of original matching pressed quarries.
fig.1
Once completed, all the glazing was reinstated over lead trays
and with newly tipped and painted glazing bars.
The apex panels were ill-fitting in the stone profiles so we
altered the positions of some pressed glass in the lobes to
prevent them being hidden withing the glazing grooves as
hilighted by the red arrows in figure 1 (image on the right)
fig.1 SA5 one of the top tier apex panels
fig.2 The 2 adjacent windows of this project
STAINED GLASS & LEADED LIGHT
SPECIALISTS
CLEANING, REPAIRS,
RESTORATION & CONSERVATION
SURVEYS & REPORTS
www.auravisions.co.uk
auravisions@gmail.com
01799 584108
fig.2
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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