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I have been putting together a day symposium at Swansea College of Art with Christian Ryan for 25 November 2023. 'Capturing the Moment: Swansea Stained Glass Archives' will reflect on the stained glass archives in Swansea College of Art, UWTSD and elsewhere in Wales. Speakers will include Dr Jasmine Allen (Stained Glass Museum, Ely), Dr Reinhard Köpf (Heritage Department, Mönchengladbach) and several artists who trained or taught on the Stained Glass course in Swansea. A visit to see the stained glass at Coychurch Crematorium will take place on the following day.

I contributed to the New Illuminations Symposium in Dublin in September, speaking about the work of Heaton, Butler & Bayne in Ireland and Wales. In October I spoke at the annual conference of the Ecclesiological Society in London on twentieth-century stained glass. This paper will be published as part of the conference proceedings, hopefully in 2024.

This was followed by a seminar for the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, and in the intervening period I had a different kind of audience in the church at Llanidloes, when about ninety primary school children came to learn about the stained glass in the church.

 

Saints and Stained Glass for the Ports, Past and Present project

In the closing months of the Ports, Past and Present project I published books on stained glass in two of the port towns that were the focus of the project.

Stained Glass in Fishguard was produced in association with St Mary’s in Fishguard and includes stained glass from churches in the town, a panel in the town library, and stained glass from churches in Goodwick and Manorowen. Copies are available from the church or from Sulien Books.

A second book included stained glass from churches in Holyhead and from othr churches on Holy Island. It was launched with a walking tour of the windows on 1 July 2023, beginning at the Maritime Museum where two windows from St Seiriol’s, demolished in the 1990s, are now on display. More about these books can be found on the Stained Glass from Welsh Churches blog.

A series of heritage stories relating to stained glass and journeys of the saints across the Irish Sea are found as an online tour on the project website.

 

Welsh Saints from Welsh Churches

Welsh Saints from Welsh Churches is my first major book since Stained Glass from Welsh Churches was published in 2014. It illustrates the imagery of Welsh saints found in churches in Wales from the medieval period and up to the present day, revealing a wealth of imagery since the mid-nineteenth century that has not been studied before.

The book is illustrated in full colour throughout and takes a journey around Wales to cathedrals and churches large and small in city centres, quiet suburbs, towns, villages and lonely fields. Some are now closed, but at a time when communities are working hard to ensure that their churches remain open for worship and for visitors, the book is a timely reminder of the artistic treasures that can be found in places of worship in Wales. Books can be ordered directly from me for £35 including postage.

 

Esgyrn Cybi/The Bones of St Cybi

The last exhibition of work from the Ports Past and Present project for 2022 took place at Ucheldre Arts Centre in Holyhead, which opened in October 2022. I had hoped to complete some of my own work for the previous exhibitions, but finally made some new images for our show in Holyhead.

The images were inspired by the seizure of the shrine of St Cybi at Holyhead, which was taken to Dublin in the fifteenth century. My images overlay what little survives of the medieval ornament at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin – the patterns on some of the medieval tiles – with the late medieval stone carving from the south side of the church at Holyhead, which is still dedicated to Cybi.

 

 

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