Fairford Parish Church

A magnificent achievement - Robert Hardy, CBE. The 28 medieval stained glass windows of St Mary's Church in Fairford, Gloucestershire, form the finest collection of stained glass in Europe and are known throughout the world. St Mary's is a magnificent church, built towards the end of the 15th century by wool merchant John Tame. The windows were installed in 1509 after painstaking work by their craftsmen and tell the story of the Christian faith from Creation to Last Judgement. From 1984, the windows have been gradually restored, after being damaged by years of weathering and corrosion. For the first time in just over 300 years the set of windows is complete. It is therefore timely to publish, for the first time in paperback, the story of Fairford's windows. This book, first published as "Life, Death and Art: The Medieval Stained Glass of Fairford Parish Church," studies the medieval stained glazing scheme in the context of the economic, religious and artistic life of late medieval England. Expert contributors discuss all aspects of the windows, from the building and decoration of the church, to the working methods of the glaziers, the glass's history and construction, and its subject matter and iconography. Beautifully illustrated in both colour and b/w, "Fairford Parish Church" also discusses the survival of the glass, and the methods of its restoration.