Wednesday 13 June 2018

The Blitz Glass .........two unique pieces from Manchester Cathedral

I am looking at two pieces of Victorian stained glass which were rescued from Manchester Cathedral after the intensive bombing on the nights of December 22/23 and 23/24 1940.

The glass, 2018
Today, I doubt that there will be many people alive who saw the original stained glass windows and so these two pieces have a significance.

With time and research we might find other bits which survived but for now I am happy with these.

They were handed over to David Harrop by Sylvia and Tony Carroll and will go on display in his permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery.

A“All the Victorian stained glass was destroyed during the Manchester Blitz in 1940.  Until the late 1960s, only two windows had been replaced, notably the Fire Window by Margaret Traherne (1966). The dean and chapter commissioned Tony Hollaway to prepare a scheme for re glazing the cathedral, with priority to the five western windows: St George (1973), St Denys (1976), St Mary (1980), 
The glass, 2018
according to one source,

The Creation (1991) and The Apocalypse (1995). To commemorate the restoration of the cathedral following an IRA bomb in 1996, the Healing Window by Linda Walton was installed in 2004”.*

So I am pleased that they will be on display and again be seen by people.

The Cathedral, 1941
The two pieces were photographed outside the Lodge in the June sunshine.

Location; The Remembrance Lodge, Southern Cemetery, 2018,








Pictures; Victorian stained glass from Manchester Cathedral, 2018, courtesy of David Harrop and Manchester Cathedral Bomb damage, 1941, B B Jay, m08594, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

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