A SPECTACULAR artwork has been unveiled to mark 550th anniversary of King Richard III becoming lord of Barnard Castle.
The new feature at St Mary’s Parish Church – dubbed Windows for the King – was designed and created by stained-glass artist Rachel Phillips and unveiled by Durham University chancellor Dr Fiona Hill.
The ceremony was led by St Mary’s vicar Revd Canon Alec Harding who welcomed the guests including town mayor Cllr Paul Ing, church officers, funders such as GSK staff and Durham Benevolence, and members of the Northern Dales Richard III Group.
Revd Harding said: “We are here to mark the culmination of project that has been running for the last two years and more, the aim of which has been to see a new artwork installed in church – Windows for the King. Under the banner of ‘Celebrating God’s Love’ these new windows are an expression of our finding a ‘useable history’ in the long Christian tradition of this ancient parish church.”
The windows comprise seven panels with Christ and St Mary at its centre flanked by St Ninian of Whithorn, St Margaret of Scotland, St Helen and St Katherine.
The end panels feature King Richard III’s boar emblem.
Chairwoman of the Richard III group Kim Harding explained the project came about when a planning application was made to install a sign at Amen Corner, outside the church, which led to research into who owned the land.
She then discovered that college buildings associated to the church had once occupied the site.
Mrs Harding said: “Histories of the town and of Richard III insisted that Richard’s intended college was for the castle chapel and have never even got off the ground.
“My research was showing something different – the college was never meant to be in the castle but in a transformed St Mary’s. I uncovered evidence of Richard’s continuing generosity to St Mary’s whilst he was king, over and above the considerable expense he had already gone to, while Duke of Gloucester, putting in the chancel arch and clerestory and heightening the walls of the chancel.”
Dr Hill, who grew up in Bishop Auckland and went on to be a security advisor to American presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, told the audience that had Richard III’s reign been longer his college could have made the town a major centre for learning instead of Durham.
Green Lane Primary School Choir, along with members of St Mary’s Community Choir, performed Loyalty Binds Me from the musical Lord of the North during the ceremony.
The Richard III group raised some £40,000 for the installation.
