YORK MINSTER'S EAST WINDOW

Press, Volume C, Issue 29501, 1 May 1961, Page 2

YORK MINSTER'S EAST WINDOW

Backdrop To Royal Wedding

When the Duke of Kent and his bride stand at the altar for their wedding on June 8, they will be dwarfed by the magnificent east windown in York Minster, says a London correspondent.

Standing 72ft high by 31ft —an area bigger than a fu’lsized tennis court—the window has 117 main panels. Each one is a yard square and made up of approximately 800 pieces of glass. Altogether there are some 150.000 pieces of stained glass in this witxtow, which is certainly the biggest in England and possibly in the world. The window was designed by John Thornton in the fifteenth century. Between 1405 and 1408 he acted as master craftsman and supervised the placing of the glass. For this he was paid 4s a week. But in those days 12 chickens could be bought for 2s and four dozen eggs for a Id. During Cromwell's time five cannon balls crashed through the east window and in the 1820’s fire caused further havoc. From time to time the lead which holds the glass in place had to be replenished and as a result much of the glass was replaced haphazardly. One of the “cows" from the Ark came to rest on "Noah's" head as a bat, and the pink dress of a biblical princess was used for the foliage of a tree. During the Second World War the window was stored in the crypt of York Minster for safety. At the end of hostilities the Dean of Yorkminster (Dr. Milner-White) decided to restore the window. With the help of three skilled eraftsmen it took 11 years to complete. It now appears as it did in the days when Henry V was on the throne—a tribute to the skill and imagination of min throughout the last 500 years.