Stained Glass & Sundials

Under Construction Sign Page Under Review (Updated 1.1.2014)

Stained Glass & Sundials

* Indicates data from the Directory for British Glass Industry, 1956 (Society of Glass Technology).

Clayton & Bell, Regent Street, London.

Initially Clayton and Bell’s designs were manufactured by Heaton and Butler, with whom they shared a studio in Covent garden between 1859 and 1862, employing the very talented Robert Bayne as a designer as well. There was a good deal of interaction and influence between Clayton and Bell,and Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The windows of both firms share several distinguishing features and characteristic colour-combinations which are uncommon in other designers.

From 1861 Clayton and Bell x moved into large premises in Regent Street, London, where they commenced manufacturing their own glass, employing about 300 people. In the late 1860s and 1870s the firm was at its busiest, and employees worked night shifts in order to fulfil commissions.

After the deaths of Alfred Bell in 1895 and John Richard Clayton in 1913, the firm continued under Bell’s son, John Clement Bell (1860–1944), then under Reginald Otto Bell (1884–1950) and lastly Michael Farrar-Bell (1911–93) until his death.[4]

Unfortunately, the records of Clayton & Bell were largely by bombing in WW2.

Cloisonne Glass Co.

This new method of decoration glass appears to be by sandwiching fine glass beads between two layers of glass. The advertisement below suggests a rather restrained pattern.

Advertisement from The Studio, vol. 24, no. 104 of 15.11. 1901Advertisement from The Studio, vol. 24, no. 104 of 15.11. 1901
I have seen only one example in the front door of a house at the back of Plymouth Hoe and this was an Art Nouveau pattern. Looking back some 30 years I seem to remember that it was a sandwich of tiny glass beads between two sheets of glass. I do not recall how the pattern was separated - whether metal wires were used as the name suggests. The web article (only obtained by purchase) suggests that the particular window under discussion there is assumed to be the work of Frederic Vidal Puig, the only known Catalan artisan who used this technique between 1899 and 1904.The date agrees with my Plymouth observation. More information on this technique is required.

Fulham Glass House (Stained Glass Studio)

Turn from the Fulham Road into Crookham Road. "At the end is the Glass House, built in 1906 as stained glass workshops for Lowndes & Drury". (www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkfulhamroute.htm). A Painting of the stained glass sign depicting craftsmen at work outside the Glass House by Arnold Walthen Robinson FMGP (1888-1955). (Glass Circle News 2004, no.94, p.5 with illustration of the sign.) The building is actually in Lettice Street. Christopher Whall (1849-1924) was closely associated with the firm, as was the Irish artist Wilhelmina Geddes. (See Britten & Gilson below)

 

Other Commercial Stained Glass Workshops.
Britten & Gilson. 187/189 Union Street (see Hayward Brothers in Later and Peripheral glasshouses.) The involvement of Britten and Gilson with Haywards is not explained but it may be that the firm was first engaged to make the glass units for pavement lights and coal-hole covers developed by Haywards. Britten & Gilson appear to have been the first firm to invent a shaded "Slab" glass, called Norman Glass that was particularly favoured by Christopher Whall and his followers. It was made by blowing coloured glass into rectangular-shaped (bottle) moulds from which the sides and base were cut. This process gave a glass of irregular thickness compared with the then available thinly blown glass obtained by the muff and spun processes.

If Britten & Gilson did subcontart to Haywards it seems to have developed the production of stained glass for windows as a separate enterprise as it it is stated in Hayward's Timeline that "In 1905, Britten and Gilson (leaded glass) closed; their late manager was engaged to run a newly-formed leaded glass department."

Stained glass artist, Mary Lowndes (1856 – 1929) worked there and, in 1897, with the then foreman of the firm, A. J. Drury, she founded Lowndes & Drury. In 1906 they founded the Glass House in Lettice Street, Fulham, (see above) which provided a purpose-built stained-glass studio and workshop for independent artists. Christopher Whall, Robert Anning Bell and Wilhelmina Geddes all produced work there.
(Information partly from Wikipedia.)
For an article on the development of Slab glass see Tony Benyon, The development of Antique and other glass used in 19th and 20th century stained glass. Journal of Stained Glass, vol. XXIX, pp. 184-198, 2005.

*Baldwin (Robert L.) & Lucas (Arthur) (Estd. 1945). 93 Whitton Ave., Greenford Midd/x.
Stained Glass.
*Edwards (C.J.) and Powell (H.B.) (Estd. 1953). The Apothecaries Hall, Blackfriars Lane, London, E.C.4.
Designers and Makers of stained glass.

*Faith Craft Works Ltd. (Estd. 1919). 7 Tufton Street, London, S.W.1.
Craftsmen and designers in stained glass. Managing Director G. Baden Beadle).
(Information from Wikipedia)
The Society of the Faith is a Church of England charity founded in 1905 to bring together Christians in communion with the See of Canterbury for mutual assistance and to support and further charitable undertakings, particularly those which popularise the Catholic faith.
Faith-Craft Studio. In 1916 the Society began to make vestments to order. The business grew and in 1921 Faith-Craft was founded. From 1938 a workshop for joinery and statue work was opened in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with vestments and stained-glass being produced at Faith House. In 1955 Faith-Craft works moved to new premises in the Abbey Mill in St Albans. The post-war restoration and furnishing of St Mary-le-Bow (famous for its Bow Bells), Cheapside from 1956 to 1964 was Faith-Craft's largest single commission; everything was made by Faith-Craft including the stained glass windows, designed by John Hayward. By the end of the 1960s changes in fashions in church furnishings had changed, reducing demand and the costs of running the businesses were rising. As a result in 1973 the Society closed down Faith-Craft.
Hayward died on May 17th, 2010, age 77.

 

*Gibbs (Walter) & Sons Ltd. (Estd. 1868). 41/49 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London, E.2
One electric furnace.
Leaded lights, Copper lights, Stained glass.

Goddard and Gibbs, E15. (All techniques).

*Hendra & Harper (G.F.) (Estd. 1947). The Studio, 4 High Street, Harpenden, Herts.
Stained glass windows.

Lavers, Barraud and Westlake (1885 - 1921).
They were part of the Gothic Revival movement that affected English church architecture in the 19th century.
In the mid 19th century, Lavers, Barraud and Westlake were among many young designers who responded to the growing market for stained glass windows. The partnership initially comprised Nathaniel Wood Lavers (1828–1911) and Francis Philip Barraud (1824–1900) and operated from 1858 as Lavers and Barraud. Both were originally employed at the workshops of James Powell and Sons. Lavers started his own studio in 1855 and was joined by Barraud in 1858. A freelance artist, Nathaniel Westlake (1833–1921), joined them as a partner in 1868, having worked with the architect, William Burges and with Alfred Bell of Clayton and Bell.

The company used a number of freelance artists apart from Westlake. These included Henry Stacy Marks (1829–1898) who designed windows with elongated medievalising figures for the company in its earliest years and J.M. Allen who worked with Lavers and Barraud before the joining of Westlake, also designing windows for the firms of Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and Shrigley and Hunt until the 1880s. Alfred Bell (1832–95) and Henry Holiday also designed glass for Lavers, Barraud and Westlake.

Between 1891 and 1894 Nathaniel Westlake published four volumes entitled "A History of Design in Painted Glass".
After the deaths of Barraud in 1900 and Lavers in 1911, Westlake became the sole partner, continuing in business until his death in 1921.
(data from Wikipedia)

 

*Ide (T. & W.) Ltd. (Estd. 1830). Glasshouse Fields, Ratcliffe,, London, E.1.
Bending, Decorating, Silvering, Brilliant cutting, Sandblasting, Staining, Firing, Leaded lights, Ships porthole glasses, Rectangular domes, Traffic mirrors, "Copperide" backed mirrors, Scientific instruments and medical glassware.
Trade name; Twide. For details of this firm's stained and leaded glass making see my book A History of Glassmaking in London. The firm closed in 2005, the Art Studio section being taken over by Rankin Glass while the business of James Hetley, providing coloured glasses etc, for the stained glass industry, was taken over by Pearsons Glass Ltd. (see the section on Later Glass Working Industries.Also see my book, chapter 21.)

*Maile (G) & Son. Ltd, (Estd, 1785). 367 Euston Road, London, N.W.1.

Stained glass windows, Leaded lights and copper lights.

 

*Morris (Colwyn). 3 Swan Studios, 65 Deodar Road, London, S.W.15.
Stained glass, memorial windows.
He apparently taught at the Swansea Institute and a number of his commissions are associated with Welsh churches. It is not clear if he is related to William Morris. William only had two daughters.

 

*Morris (William) & Co. (Estd. 1832). Ferry Lane Works, Forest Road, 65 Deodar Road, London, S.W.15.
Ecclesiastical stained glass, Leaded lights. See William Morris Gallery, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E174PP.

 

*Mowbray (A. R.) & Co. Ltd, (Estd. 1858). 28 Margaret Street, London, W.1. Stained glass windows for churches.
This information provided by Sussex Parish Churches.
A R Mowbray and Co Founded in Oxford in 1858 by Alfred R Mowbray (1824-75) as religious booksellers and suppliers of ecclesiastical fittings and perquisites of all kinds (including glass), the firm’s works and shop were there. A London branch, opened in 1873, was for many years in Margaret Street. Their work continued almost unchanged well into the C20, as a catalogue of their wares of 1926 shows and they supplied mainly churches of an Anglo-Catholic persuasion. The ecclesiastical fittings business was taken over by J Wippell and Co in the 1970s, but the name survives as a separate entity within Hatchard's bookshop in Piccadilly, like Mowbray’s now part of the Waterstones chain. In later years they did not design the goods they sold, but commissioned others, though few can be credited to a name. Among designers of glass they used A L Ward. Lit: A R Mowbray and Co: Church Arts and Crafts, 1926 (NAL) Fittings: Worthing, - St John, West Worthing, statues Glass: High Hurstwood

 

*Nicholson (A.K.) Stained Glass Studios. (Estd. 1901). 35 Circus Road, St John's Wood, London, N.W.8.

One furnace: electricity.

Craftsmen and designers of stained glass windows.

Partners; G.E.R. Smith, H.L. Pawle.

 

Rankin Glass. Mostly commercial. Decorative glass (acid & sandblast), Deep Sculpture glass (Sandblast).

 

*Skeat (Francis) (Estd. 1934). 5 Cross Lane, Harpenden, Herts.

Stained glass Artist

 

*Smith (William) (Estd. 1870). Haddon Works, 18 Boston Place, London, N.W.1.

Stained glass windows, Leaded lights.

 

*Stephens (Francis) A.R.C.A., F.B.S.M.G.P. 14 St. Edmund's Close, St John's Wood, London, N.W.8.

Stained glass windows.

 

*Wilkinson (Alfred L.). (Estd. 1930). 223 Archway Road, Highgate, London N.6.

Craftsman and designer of stained glass.

 

Contemporary Stained Glass Workers.

Rainbow Glass Studio, Stoke Newington. (basic training).

Stained Glass Heaven, Stamford Hill (basic training).

Finchley Stained Glass, Finchley. (restoration and repairs).

Central St. Martins College of Art, Holborn. (Stained glass courses at all levels.)

 

Sandblasting Workshops.

*Brilliant Signs Ltd. (Estd. 1887) Paragon Works, Uxbridge Road, London, W.12.
Constructional glass, Illuminating glassware, Processes, Embossing, Sandblasting, Silk screen printing, Neon signs.

*Caspar Ltd. (Estd. c. 1879) 33 St. Pancras Way, London, N.W.1.
One gas-fired kiln. Sandblast, decorative glassworkers and colour-firing experts, Signs etc.

*City Sandblast Co. Ltd. (Estd. 1900). 173 New North Road, London, N.1.
Stockists of plate and sheet glass, Manufacturers and processors of constructional glass products, Decorative art glass by sandblasting.

*London Sand Blast Decorative Glass Works Ltd. (Estd. 1875). Seager Place, Burdett Road, London, E.3.

Six ceramic kilns: gas.

Manufacturers and processors of constructional glass products, Advertising ashtrays, illuminated advertising signs, Advertising glass jugs, Lettering of chemical bottles, edge-lit glass signs, church windows, Door panels.

 

Glass Sundials.

A sundial painted on a glass window, suitably placed to receive the sun, became a new attraction for churches and buildings of the well-to-do by the early 16th century. In England, at the time during the Commonwealth that religious stained glass windows became unpopular the stained glass sundial seems to have continued in popularity alongside coats of arms etc. Several London makers are known.
For a good article entitled Glass Sundials in 17th Century London by Geoffrey Lane.
click on Glass Sundials