Emmaus Partnership
The celebrated York stained glass designer who created a stunning memorial window to York servicemen and women who served in Afghanistan is now working on a new window for Selby Abbey.
The church is a former Benedictine abbey and current Anglican parish church in the town of Selby, North Yorkshire,The church is one of the relatively few surviving abbey churches of the medieval period, and, although not a cathedral, is one of the biggest. It was founded by Benedict of Auxerre in 1069 and subsequently built by the de Lacy family.
On 31 May 1256, the abbey was bestowed with the grant of a Mitre by Pope Alexander IV and from this date was a “Mitred Abbey”. This privilege fell in abeyance a number of times, but on 11 April 1308, Archbishop William Greenfield confirmed the grant, and Selby remained a “Mitred Abbey” until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The new window, which depicts the ‘agony’ of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as he awaits his betrayal and arrest, is being made by Helen Whittaker at Barley studio in Dunnington. It will be the first new stained glass window at the Abbey for 90 years.
Due to be fitted in in place next week and dedicated in a service on Sunday 24th March – Palm Sunday – it will fill one of the original Norman windows at the western end of the Abbey’s nave.
There it will complement other Easter-themed windows depicting depict Jesus’ body being taken down from the Cross and then the Resurrection.
Helen has created stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals across the country – including York’s Afghanistan memorial window in All Saints’ Church, Pavement, and the famous ‘Queen Window’ unveiled at Westminster Abbey in 2018. That window was designed by David Hockney – but made by Helen at Barley Studio.
Helen and her team are also currently heavily involved in a two year major conservation project at Salford’s Catholic Cathedral where Barley Studio has been tasked with conserving and protecting all of the windows in the cathedral. The ‘Restoring the Glory’ project aims to revive the iconic splendour of this church whilst making it the most sustainable cathedral in the country.
You can also see a fine example of Helen’s work in the offices of Ampleforth Abbey. The artwork, which was installed last December, uses a variety of glass techniques in combination with copper and brass sculptural elements accentuating the leadwork. The focal point of the design is the motto ‘PAX [peace] amidst the thorns’, surrounded by a circle of thorns. The thorns radiate outwards to form the stems of the plant Paliurus spina Christi, believed to be the origin of Christ’s crown of thorns.
