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Offord D'Arcy

This war memorial consists of a stained-glass memorial window with five lights. Two cinquefoil lancets, each depict a winged saint. The figure on left represents St Michael, frequently viewed as the field commander of the Army of God, holding a sword and dressed in armour. The figure on the right depicts St Gabriel; the archangel who serves as a messenger from God, holding laurels. The memorial window also includes three tracery lights above the lancets, two of which show angel figures and the top central light depicts a crown. Below the window are two brass memorial plaques which commemorate the men of the town who fell in both World War I and World War II.

In 2012 War Memorials Trust offered a grant of £1,441 towards the restoration of the window. The window was in a poor state of repair and was bowing severely as the lead canes were quickly deteriorating. The priority therefore was to safely remove the glass from the opening without damaging any sections of glass. The glass had been embedded into the church using a cement in 1920’s which was removed from the surround using a hammer and chisel inside the church to minimise the risk of damage. Once removed, the windows were taken to the workshop and a template was taken using polycarbonate sheeting which was sealed into position in the church as a temporary protection for the building.

The window was then photographed for records and each piece was traced in its position to show the location and size of the individual pieces and the layout of the lead before it was removed. The glass was then carefully cleaned using deionised water.

Where sections of glass had cracked, they were repaired using fine copper foil which was soldered into position. One broken section of glass was repaired using an epoxy resin with a backing piece of glass for extra support.

The repaired sections of glass were then laid onto the tracing and ¼” round lead was inserted between the glazing. The depth of the lead was dependent upon the thickness of the individual pieces of glass, which varied from 2.5mm to 7mm thick. The glass pieces were held in place using horseshoe nails whilst the lead was set. Following this, a lead cement, which consisted of linseed oil, various fillers and lamp black was then worked into the joints to form a seal. The glass was then polished and the window left horizontally for about 1 week to allow the lead cement to fully harden. The finished windows were then photographed again for records before being returned to the church.

Once the windows were re-inserted the old glazing bars were replaced with non-ferrous bars and the copper wires soldered to the windows were attached to the bars. A hydraulic lime mortar was used to seal the windows into position. Using a lime mortar rather than cement will allow the window to expand and contract away from the frame through natural changes in temperature and moisture levels throughout the year without putting pressure on the glass, which was the cause of the cracking previously.

The memorial was designed by William Glasby and was dedicated 27 June 1920.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM5176
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 328

If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org

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