REPAIRS costing £10,000 are underway to the best known of the Victorian stained-glass windows in Barnard Castle’s parish church.
The window at St Mary’s Church was manufactured by CE Kempe and installed in the south side of the chancel in 1885, replacing an earlier window of which traces still remain.
In 1994, the Kempe Society recorded that some of the glass was broken.
A detailed report last year by Jonathan and Ruth Cooke, of the Stained Glass Window Conservation company, identified that the window was also in poor structural condition.
Robert Stenlake, church treasurer, said: “The deterioration appears to be caused by the removal of external structural supports many years ago when external protective glazing was installed.”
The three main sections of the window have been temporarily removed to Mr Cooke’s workshop in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, for repair and conservation. The window depicts three scenes of the Passion – Christ before Pilate, Christ in Gethsemane and Christ washing the feet of the disciples.
Mr Stenlake added: “When the window is reinstalled sometime in the next few weeks, we should be able to see these scenes much more clearly and as they would have looked when the window was new. Dirt will have been removed from between the window and its external glazing and there will be new protective grilles on the outside.”
The church has been able to carry out the work thanks to its patron, Trinity College, in Cambridge, which has funded the job.
Meanwhile, the church has made an application a £350,000 Lottery bid for funding for vital repairs to the tower. The huge cracks running down the wall are believed to be caused by pressure exerted by the church tower that was built in Victorian times.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
