Britain has some of the finest stained glass in the world, in cathedrals, parish churches, college chapels, museums, historic houses, pubs, a civic hall and even a theatre. The map shows the best-known places in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Select a dot for a photograph and a link to the page for that place, or use the buttons to show only one kind of place. Seeing glass in person is one of the best ways to discover which styles appeal, and many of the techniques can still be commissioned today.
Showing all 38 places. Use the + and − buttons to zoom, then drag the map to move it.
Places on the map
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury, England
Some of the oldest glass in England, from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, in deep blues and rubies. The medallion windows tell stories linked to the shrine of Thomas Becket.
Read about this placeYork Minster
York, England
The largest collection of medieval glass in England. The Five Sisters lancets date from about 1260 and the Great East Window from 1405 to 1408.
Read about this placeLincoln Cathedral
Lincoln, England
Two great rose windows face each other across the transept: the Dean’s Eye, begun in 1192, and the Bishop’s Eye, finished in 1330.
Read about this placeWells Cathedral
Wells, England
The Golden Window at the east end is a Tree of Jesse created between 1340 and 1345, among the finest Decorated windows in England.
Read about this placeKing’s College Chapel
Cambridge, England
A near-complete scheme of Renaissance glass produced between about 1516 and 1526, with Old and New Testament scenes shown in pairs. The west window is Victorian, by Clayton and Bell.
Read about this placeSt Mary’s Church, Fairford
Fairford, England
A rare, almost complete set of late medieval windows telling the Christian story from beginning to end, finishing with the Last Judgement at the west.
Read about this placeGreat Malvern Priory
Great Malvern, England
Fifteenth century Perpendicular glass, produced between 1423 and 1439, survives in the clerestory and in the large north transept window.
Read about this placeGloucester Cathedral
Gloucester, England
The Great East Window, from the fourteenth century, is among the largest medieval windows in the country and shows rows of figures and heraldry.
Read about this placeEly Cathedral and the Stained Glass Museum
Ely, England
The Stained Glass Museum is housed in the cathedral and shows panels from the twelfth century to the present, a useful first stop for anyone new to the subject.
Read about this placeSalisbury Cathedral
Salisbury, England
The Prisoners of Conscience window by Gabriel Loire of Chartres (1980) is a modern blue window in the Trinity Chapel.
Read about this placeChichester Cathedral
Chichester, England
Marc Chagall’s window, unveiled in October 1978, shows Psalm 150 and the arts given in praise.
Read about this placeAll Saints Church, Tudeley
Tudeley, near Tonbridge, England
The only church in the world with every window designed by Marc Chagall. The first was dedicated in 1967 and the twelfth completed in 1985.
Read about this placeCoventry Cathedral
Coventry, England
John Hutton’s engraved screen of 66 saints and angels looks onto the ruins of the old cathedral. It stands beside the Baptistery window by Piper and Reyntiens and ten tall nave windows.
Read about this placeLiverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
Liverpool, England
The Lantern Tower glass, created in 1965 to 1967, fills the central space with colour and is the best-known post-war window in the north of England.
Read about this placeWestminster Abbey
London, England
Windows from many centuries, including Victorian memorials such as the Brunel window of 1868 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Read about this placeLlandaff Cathedral
Cardiff, Wales
Pre-Raphaelite glass, with Morris and Co windows produced between 1866 and 1877.
Read about this placeTruro Cathedral
Truro, England
A Victorian Gothic Revival cathedral with glass by Clayton and Bell, in the bright, luminous colour typical of the firm.
Read about this placeSt Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham
Birmingham, England
Large east and other windows designed by Burne-Jones, a native of Birmingham, and produced by Morris and Co.
Read about this placeRoyal Shakespeare Theatre (Swan Wing)
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Church-style stained glass inside a working theatre. The Swan Wing lancets show the Seven Ages of Man, installed between 1881 and 1887 and surviving the fire of 1926.
Read about this placeSt Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
Stained glass returned to St Giles in the 1870s, after the medieval windows were lost to the Reformation. The Thistle Chapel glass of 1910 and Douglas Strachan’s windows are highlights.
Read about this placeUniversity of Glasgow Memorial Chapel
Glasgow, Scotland
A chapel showing several of Scotland’s leading twentieth century glass artists in one building, with a scheme for the nave devised by Douglas Strachan.
Read about this placeThe Willow Tearooms, Glasgow
Glasgow, Scotland
Opened in 1903 on Sauchiehall Street and designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Catherine Cranston, with leaded glass throughout, including the Room de Luxe doors and frieze.
Read about this placeVictoria and Albert Museum
London, England
The largest collection of stained glass in Great Britain, from medieval panels to twentieth century work, shown at close range away from the buildings it was created for.
Read about this placeThe Burrell Collection
Glasgow, Scotland
One of the finest collections of stained glass in Britain, in Pollok Park on the south side of Glasgow.
Read about this placeWilliam Morris Gallery
Walthamstow, London, England
A gallery devoted to the designer William Morris, with stained glass produced by his firm.
Read about this placeDurham Cathedral
Durham, England
A Romanesque cathedral with Victorian and modern glass, from Henry Holiday’s Moses window to Thomas Denny’s Transfiguration window of 2010.
Read about this placeLichfield Cathedral
Lichfield, England
Flemish glass of the 1530s from Herkenrode Abbey fills the Lady Chapel, in a Renaissance style rare in English cathedrals.
Read about this placeSt Peter Mancroft, Norwich
Norwich, England
A great fifteenth-century parish church whose east window keeps 42 panels of medieval Norwich glass.
Read about this placeChrist Church Cathedral, Oxford
Oxford, England
The cathedral and college chapel holds a medieval Becket window and one of Burne-Jones’s earliest designs, the St Frideswide window of 1859.
Read about this placeSt Mary Redcliffe, Bristol
Bristol, England
The great Gothic parish church above Bristol harbour, with many Victorian windows including work by Clayton and Bell.
Read about this placeThe Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast
Belfast, Northern Ireland
A Victorian pub interior of etched, painted and stained glass, gilded woodwork, tiling and ten snugs, owned by the National Trust.
Read about this placeCardiff Castle
Cardiff, Wales
William Burges’s Winter Smoking Room in the Clock Tower has six windows of the Norse gods who gave the days of the week their names.
Read about this placeWightwick Manor
Wolverhampton, England
An Arts and Crafts house of 1887 to 1893 with windows designed by Charles Kempe, set among Morris wallpapers and fabrics.
Read about this placeThe Philharmonic Dining Rooms, Liverpool
Liverpool, England
A pub of 1898 to 1900 where etched, leaded and stained glass appears in lobby screens, skylights, windows and panels throughout the building.
Read about this placeBelfast City Hall
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Stained glass windows of 1906 on the Grand Staircase, with later memorial windows added over the following century.
Read about this placeCafé Royal, Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
A late Victorian interior whose Oyster Bar has eight stained glass windows of British sportsmen, attributed to Ballantine and Gardiner.
Read about this placeStourbridge Glass Museum
Wordsley, England
A collection of about 10,000 pieces from the glasshouses of Stourbridge, one of the main centres of English glassmaking.
Read about this placeGuildford Cathedral
Guildford, England
John Hutton’s engraved sentinel angels at the west doors, from the engraver of the Coventry glass screen.
Read about this place
Other maps
- Charles Rennie Mackintosh tour. His surviving buildings in Glasgow, Helensburgh, Dundee and Northampton, with a suggested route.
- Stained glass in the United States. A map of cathedrals, churches, houses and museums.
- Frank Lloyd Wright. A map of his art glass sites.
Photograph credits for the map
Map thumbnails are free-licence photographs from Wikimedia Commons. Photographer and licence are given for each.
- Canterbury Cathedral: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- York Minster: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Lincoln Cathedral: Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Wells Cathedral: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0
- King’s College Chapel: Txllxt TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0
- St Mary’s Church, Fairford: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Great Malvern Priory: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Gloucester Cathedral: Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0
- Ely Cathedral and the Stained Glass Museum: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Salisbury Cathedral: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Chichester Cathedral: Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0
- All Saints Church, Tudeley: Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0
- Coventry Cathedral: Jim Linwood, CC BY 2.0
- Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral: Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Westminster Abbey: Robert Lamb, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Llandaff Cathedral: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0
- Truro Cathedral: Virtual-Pano, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Swan Wing): David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0
- St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh: Amy Mantravadi, CC BY-SA 3.0
- University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel: Johnhousefriday, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Victoria and Albert Museum: Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Burrell Collection: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0
- William Morris Gallery: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0
- St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham: Raheel Shahid, CC BY 2.0
- The Willow Tearooms, Glasgow: StainedGlass.co.uk
Related pages
- Learn
- Churches and Cathedrals
- Window styles by period
- How to read a church window
- Famous workshops and makers
- Glass Glossary
See also Stained Glass in the USA: Places to See.