Latest Acquisition: The Atkinson Bros Windows – Tyne & Wear

We’ve bought a fabulous series of stained-glass windows that date from the 1920’s and were made by the Atkinson Brothers of New Bridge Street in Newcastle Upon Tyne. They were made for, what was originally, the Thornhill Methodist Church in Sunderland. They are now on display and are for sale at LASSCO Three Pigeons in Oxfordshire.

The Atkinson Brothers were one of the best of the stained-glass workshops in the North East of England. Their work can be found in Newcastle Cathedral, Hexham Abbey and numerous other churches of the region – and as far afield as Australia. Their zenith was the 1920’s when they received many commissions to create memorial windows to the fallen of the First World War. The large triple-light East Window we have salvaged, and one of the three double windows from the nave, are signed “Atkinson Brothers, Newcastle upon Tyne”. 

One of the double windows (above) is particularly striking and, notably, is stylistically different from the others. One of the two lights is a rendition of Holman Hunt’s “The Light of the World”. Hunt’s oil painting, a pre-Raphaelite interpretation of Revelations 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock…”, had a clamorous reception in Victorian times (and he was to twice reproduce it subsequently). The original version, painted in the early 1850’s, now hangs in the chapel at Keble College Oxford; it is said that Hunt found the correct light in the gardens of the Oxford University Press in order to paint it.

Henry Albert Payne (1868-1940) a master Arts and Crafts stained glass artist from the Birmingham School took Hunt’s image and reproduced it, in at least two locations, from 1922 – it translates wonderfully into stained glass with the lantern-light uplighting Christ’s face. It seems the same cartoon, or a version of it, was employed by Atkinsons soon after for the creation of the Sunderland window where it was paired by The Good Shepherd in a similar style. The glass itself is distinctive and is the produce of the celebrated Hartley Wood glass manufacturer in Sunderland.

It may be significant that work by Henry Payne can be found at St Andrew’s Church at Roker, just across the Wear from Thornhill Methodist Church. St Andrews is a church described as one of the masterpieces of the Arts and Crafts “free” style in church architecture. It is an extraordinary building of 1904-7 complete with Burne-Jones tapestry, a Thompson of Kilburn pulpit, carvings by Eric Gill …and the stained glass East Window (and more) by Payne. The proximity of the two churches may well be a connection and may have inspired the choice for the dedicated window at Thornhill Methodist Church in the manner of Henry Payne. The architectural margins, and the Book of Revelations theme, are both matched in the other windows at Thornhill Methodist Church rendered in the Atkinsons Brothers’ more usual workshop style.

We have restored and framed all of the glass: the East Window is over 3metres high. They are on display at LASSCO Three Pigeons and in the bright afternoon autumnal sunlight the combined effect of the glass is wonderful. Click here to see our current stock of stained glass or on the above images to see them for sale on our website.

Words and Photos (C) A. Reeve