A handful of workshops produced much of the stained glass in British churches. Recognising their styles helps with dating and with understanding what is in front of you. The profiles below are short and neutral, and they link to the existing artist pages where one exists.
Clayton and Bell (1855 to 1993)
Founded by John Richard Clayton (1827 to 1913) and Alfred Bell (1832 to 1895), with a studio in Regent Street, London, and at its peak about 300 staff. They were the leading firm of the Victorian Gothic Revival, with bright, luminous colour and an immediately recognisable gold-star detail on cloaks. Examples include Truro Cathedral, the west window at King’s College, Cambridge (1878) and Hanley Castle (1860). Burlison and Grylls trained under them. The firm closed in 1993.
Heaton, Butler and Bayne (1850s to 1953)
Clement Heaton (1824 to 1882), James Butler (1830 to 1913) and Robert Turnill Bayne, who joined in 1862. Henry Holiday worked for them freelance between 1864 and 1878. Their work includes the Brunel memorial window at Westminster Abbey (1868). Their records were destroyed, so many windows are attributed on style alone.
Hardman and Company (Birmingham)
John Hardman worked with the architect A. W. N. Pugin from 1837, and their first window was made in November 1845. After Pugin died in 1852 John Hardman Powell became chief designer. In 1883 the business split into Hardman, Powell and Co (metalwork) and John Hardman and Co (stained glass). The family controlled the firm until the 1930s. A fire at Newhall Hill in 1970 was a heavy blow, but the studio continued making glass into the 2010s.
James Powell and Sons, Whitefriars
James Powell bought the Whitefriars glassworks in London in 1834. Harry James Powell joined in 1875 and brought a scientific approach and new colours. The firm supplied glass to other makers as well as producing its own windows, moved to Wealdstone in 1923 and brought in the dalle de verre technique with Pierre Fourmaintraux in 1956. Production ceased in 1980. J. H. Hogan was one of its notable designers, and Harry Stammers trained there.
Charles Eamer Kempe (1837 to 1907)
Kempe set up his own London studio in 1866 and made over 4,000 windows. His work is known for jewel-like colour, rich use of yellow stain, angels and peacocks. His mark is a golden wheatsheaf (his family’s garb); a small black tower was added to it after his death. The firm closed in 1934.
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co / Morris and Co
Founded in 1861 and reorganised as Morris and Co in 1875. Edward Burne-Jones was the principal designer, and Henry Dearle directed the glass studio after Morris’s death in 1896. The firm worked from Bloomsbury from 1865 and from Merton Abbey from 1881 and closed in 1947. Dante Gabriel Rossetti designed early windows, and the glass at Llandaff Cathedral dates from 1866 to 1877.
Christopher Whall (1849 to 1924)
Whall learned every stage of the craft himself, which was unusual, and he championed thick “slab” glass, developed by Prior in 1889 and used for his Lady Chapel window at Stamford in 1891. He taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1896 to 1905, and with his daughter Veronica formed Whall and Whall in 1922. His pupils included Karl Parsons, Louis Davis and Wilhelmina Geddes.
John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens
Piper designed and Reyntiens made large scale modern windows, notably at Coventry Cathedral Baptistery (1961) and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (1965 to 1967). They made abstract glass popular in post-war Britain.
Marc Chagall
The Russian-born artist designed all twelve windows at All Saints Church, Tudeley, Kent, after the death of Sarah d’Avigdor-Goldsmid in a sailing accident in 1963. The first was dedicated in 1967, and the last of the twelve, the four chancel windows, was finished in 1985. His window at Chichester Cathedral, commissioned by Dean Walter Hussey, was unveiled in 1978.
Others to look for
- Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. A major Victorian London firm.
- Thomas Willement. Artist in Stained Glass to Queen Victoria, known for armorial glass.
- Salviati. The Murano firm that produced glass for English commissions.
Details of some smaller firms are less well documented, and facts about attribution can change as research continues.
How to identify a maker
- Look at the lower corners of a window for a signature, a monogram or a small badge.
- Check the church guide or the diocesan records.
- Compare faces and drapery with known examples: each workshop had a recognisable way of painting hands, eyes and folds.