I’ve always been quite partial to stained glass. I’m in awe of the work required to create windows in stained glass and where better to see stained glass but in the United Kingdom’s churches and cathedrals.

When I visit UK now, I always make an effort to find the nearest church or cathedral. Maybe it’s a sign of age, but I can spend many an hour wandering around, admiring the architecture, the pomp of ages where religion was a life priority and resulted in extravagant carvings, tombs, cloisters and of course doors and windows.

It’s always difficult to manage to get good shots of the magnificent windows, you really need to whip out a step ladder to dash up to get a better angle, but it’s not really a viable option. So you have to accept the really magnificent, huge, end of wall stained glass windows are always going to be at a slight angle when you are 5ft 6ins tall.

January 2017 saw me in Bristol for a quick daughter visit. On a cold, sunny day we visited Bristol Cathedral where I spent a lot of time gazing upwards…

Bristol Cathedral was founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148. It was originally St Augustine’s Abbey but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries,  it became in 1542, the seat of the newly created Bishop of Bristol and the cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol. It is a Grade I listed building.

Little of the original stained glass remains with some being replaced in the Victorian era and further losses during the Bristol Blitz.

The window below is in the Elder Lady Chapel. The windows are supported by Blue Lias shafts. (The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago)  

The window below commemorates Sir Edward Colston, who was deputy governor of the Royal African Company – which between 1672 and 1698 transported around 100,000 slaves. Now a controversial commemoration and could possibly be removed according to this link.

One of the modern stained glass windows, beautiful in the sunlight…

I just liked this little window, sunlight flooding through, creating a picture to highlight the stone carvings…

Three stained glass windows on the way to the Chapter House, King Henry V111 features in the last one…

Hmm, if you are wondering what this is…well, there is no trickery, just a lower privacy screen on this window in the ladies room! I liked the effect and the window!