Artistry of Strabane church’s stained glass windows is revealed

Short of laying a ladder up against the wall at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, close up views of the stained glass windows have never been available… until now.

As restoration work on the cherished windows at the Strabane church began recently, the individual panes are being photographed and catalogued and only now, can the majestic craftsmanship and artistry be fully appreciated.

This latest step in restoring the chapel to its former glory began in earnest last month, as work on the windows got underway.

Scaffolding inside the church was erected in preparation for the windows behind the altar and east window to be carefully removed, restored and reset alongside any structural damage to the stonework surrounding it. This is the latest in a series of improvements to the church which has included work on lighting both inside and out as well as a heritage museum.

The work to restore the precious windows has fallen to Dublin-based stained glass conservationist Evan Connon.

Evan has spent the last two months in Strabane with members of his own team as well as a group of people from Magee Conservation, also based in Dublin, in a painstakingly intricate job to conserve, preserve and document the windows before restoring them to the church. The restoration can be completed thanks to a £35,000 grant from the National Churches Trust.

HISTORY

The art of conservation is in Evan’s blood, as he has a rich family background in the business.

Evan explained, “My ancestors were internal painters of historical buildings and churches for over three centuries who originally hailed from Scotland. My great-grandfather came over to Ireland for work and it was here that my grandfather Charles was born. He trained as a stained glass painter at the Joshua Clarke Studios, a Birmingham native who had also moved for work, learning at the feet of acclaimed painters such as Harry Clarke and Richard King.”

Evan’s father Patrick did not follow in his father’s footsteps though, with the artistic gene skipping a generation to Evan and his siblings, all of whom are very artistically minded although Evan admits that his childhood dream was to be a fireman not an artist. Nevertheless, the Dub couldn’t ignore his talent and began an eight–year apprenticeship before leaving to embark on a stint in college in Swansea, where he was basically told he was ‘too good’. He then returned to Ireland and resumed his apprenticeship in his home city, before going on to becoming Ireland’s leading stained glass conservationist and restorer.

Describing the apprenticeship as ‘hard work’, Evan explained that it is broken down into four years of drawing, two of painting and two of cross-pollination techniques to ensure proficiency in all aspects of conservation and restoration.

So when did Evan begin his mission in Strabane?

“I was called in about two years ago, late 2022, by the restoration team to have a look at the windows and, after an inspection, I recommended they be restored and conserved. I was able to identify the windows as having come from Mayer’s of Munich and would have been brought into Ireland via Joshua Clarke’s shop on North Fredrick Street in Dublin.”

He admits the job won’t be easy, adding, “This job is difficult enough. The altar window is damaged and we don’t know how that happened. There is also damage to the stonework and we’ll be working closely with the stonemasons to ensure it’s all properly in place.

“The first thing we’ll do is carefully remove the glass section by section. Once safely down, the glass will be taken to our workshop in Dublin where each piece will be individually, labelled, photographed and cleaned with the utmost care, removing all sorts of pollutions. Years of being exposed to candlewax, condensation, smoke and other elements will have taken its toll, so we have to be thorough and bring each piece back to life, restoring its vibrancy. Once that’s done the lead has to be wrapped carefully around the glass once more before the sections are transported back to Strabane to be reinstated in the window with new copper wiring.”

Evan employs what are called the ‘European standards’ when it comes to restoration. Detailing what that means, he offered, “European standards mean that you don’t put your own personal stamp on the window unless vital. In other words, whatever imperfections Mayer’s of Munich put in the glass when they first made it, then they must be left in for posterity and out of respect for the individual crafters.

“If a piece of glass got cracked in transportation, we would try to glue it together. Or if a piece should, heaven forbid, be smashed beyond repair then the piece would be fully restored, painted and labelled with ‘CS 2024’ so that our own imperfection would then be logged for future generations.”

Evan says that the entire process of removal, cleaning and re-setting the windows back in place should take around five months, with the plan to have the windows installed in the church by November so they can be enjoyed just in time for Christmas.