Windows
View the stained glass gallery
When St John's was built and opened in March 1818, the aisle windows were infilled with clear glass and the east end (then flat) had a window which was literally painted.
The techniques and skills of making and using true stained glass had been lost because of changes in artistic taste and protestant theology. Circa 1850-1855 the techniques of manufacture were rediscovered, and slowly the skills were developed to use them.
At this time the fashion arose of inserting stained glass windows as memorials, a practice which was accepted by the vestry of St John's. The image to the right shows one panel of a window dedicated to Isabella Ramsay, which can been seen in its entirety in our collection of of the stained glass. In the period 1857-61 nearly all the windows were filled with stained glass. Over the following 70 years other stained glass was inserted, making the whole collection one of the finest in Scotland, and especially notable because the majority were the work of one man and his descendants.
Set 1: 1857-61
One studio, Ballantyne and Allan of Edinburgh, made and inserted 10 of the 12 windows in the north and south aisles and the windows of the then flat east end. They are important and remarkable because the work was carried out over a short period soon after the rediscovery of the techniques of manufacturing medieval stained glass. We are fortunate to retain these original windows because the Victorians liked to replace earlier windows with contemporary ones. They show a number of common features:
- The alternating of red and blue
- Gothic architectural canopies
- Christ as principal figure in red with added richness through diapering (a pattern)
- Coloured glass separated from stone work by a thin strip of clear glass
- Shields in bottom panels
See windows 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the stained glass photograph collection.
Set 2: 1874
Ballantyne's son designed and inserted two windows, one at the west end of each of the north and south aisles. These have a very different style comprising smaller pieces of glass, formal geometrical floral patterns, and colours not so bright and more in the "Arts and Crafts" style.
See windows 1 and 12 in the stained glass photograph collection.
Set 3: 1882
Two different London studios designed and inserted the three windows of the Chancel. These are in the Gothic 15th century fashion and not in the then popular "Arts and Crafts" style. Although the work of two different London studios, they look the same and use the alternating blue and red colours of the Aisle windows.
See Window 13 in the stained glass photograph collection.
Set 4: 1930
Ballantyne's grandson added the bottom panels of the two windows of Set 2.
See the bottom panel of window 12 in the stained glass photograph collection.
Set 5: 1935
Ballantyne's grandson designed and inserted the chapel window, using the same style for the window over the entrance arch.
See windows 15 and 16 in the stained glass photograph collection.
Leslie Hodgson
Building >> Windows