Martyrs Window (as it was originally), Ilmington
The original composition and configuration of the stained glass in the window it was specifically designed for in the small Catholic church in Ilmington, now closed and converted to use as a shop. Recreated digitally using my photos of the panels ex situ with reference to the remaining stonework in Ilmington.
In 2024 I was asked to adapt a collection of stained glass panels that had been in storage for over a decade for re-installation at the Catholic chapel in Brailes. The glass was the work of late Arts & Crafts artist Donald Brooke of Long Compton and must have been one of his last works dating from 1968. Collectively the panels formerly comprised the sanctuary window in the former Catholic church in Ilmington and were removed when the church closed in 2010 and was adapted to new use. The ten panels originally filled a mullioned window of six lights (two rows of three) and were so close to the dimensions of the six lights (across three windows) on the north side at Brailes that they would fit with little alteration necessary (beyond enlarging the panels with plain glass) and their subject matter of Catholic Martyrs also being most appropriate to this formerly secret place of worship opened at a time when celebrating Mass was still illegal.
The panels were reworked and enlarged at my workshop in Rugby and installed in the Catholic church at Brailes (with the help of Tim Clevely) on 13th/14th of March 2025.
Not far away from the impressive ancient parish church of Brailes is the Roman Catholic church of St Peter & St Paul, unusual in having been converted from the upper floor of a medieval barn (later used as a malthouse) attached to the side of the former Rectory Farm. The chapel was created in 1726 as a secret recusant church (predating Catholic Emancipation by a century), thus the completely domestic exterior gives nothing away. Only when one ascends a staircase to the right of the main door of the adjacent house does one encounter the extraordinary 18th century church complete with its original fittings and painted altarpiece of the Crucifixion. As a reminder of less tolerant times, it is a rare survival and a little known gem and one of the oldest Post-reformation Catholic churches in the country.
catholicbrailes.org.uk/brailes/
The chapel has recently been redecorated and adorned with a series of stained glass panels by Donald Brooke salvaged from the redundant chapel in Ilmington, stored here for many years since that church's closure and installed in the north windows in March 2025.
Martyrs Window (as it was originally), Ilmington
The original composition and configuration of the stained glass in the window it was specifically designed for in the small Catholic church in Ilmington, now closed and converted to use as a shop. Recreated digitally using my photos of the panels ex situ with reference to the remaining stonework in Ilmington.
In 2024 I was asked to adapt a collection of stained glass panels that had been in storage for over a decade for re-installation at the Catholic chapel in Brailes. The glass was the work of late Arts & Crafts artist Donald Brooke of Long Compton and must have been one of his last works dating from 1968. Collectively the panels formerly comprised the sanctuary window in the former Catholic church in Ilmington and were removed when the church closed in 2010 and was adapted to new use. The ten panels originally filled a mullioned window of six lights (two rows of three) and were so close to the dimensions of the six lights (across three windows) on the north side at Brailes that they would fit with little alteration necessary (beyond enlarging the panels with plain glass) and their subject matter of Catholic Martyrs also being most appropriate to this formerly secret place of worship opened at a time when celebrating Mass was still illegal.
The panels were reworked and enlarged at my workshop in Rugby and installed in the Catholic church at Brailes (with the help of Tim Clevely) on 13th/14th of March 2025.
Not far away from the impressive ancient parish church of Brailes is the Roman Catholic church of St Peter & St Paul, unusual in having been converted from the upper floor of a medieval barn (later used as a malthouse) attached to the side of the former Rectory Farm. The chapel was created in 1726 as a secret recusant church (predating Catholic Emancipation by a century), thus the completely domestic exterior gives nothing away. Only when one ascends a staircase to the right of the main door of the adjacent house does one encounter the extraordinary 18th century church complete with its original fittings and painted altarpiece of the Crucifixion. As a reminder of less tolerant times, it is a rare survival and a little known gem and one of the oldest Post-reformation Catholic churches in the country.
catholicbrailes.org.uk/brailes/
The chapel has recently been redecorated and adorned with a series of stained glass panels by Donald Brooke salvaged from the redundant chapel in Ilmington, stored here for many years since that church's closure and installed in the north windows in March 2025.