Introduction

A few weeks ago I posted about Plas Newydd in Llangollen, a fabulous extravaganza of wood carvings, stained glass, decorative wall coverings and plaster ceilings.  This period of creativity and imagination spans 1780 to 1910.

Initially the collection and installation of this patchwork of decorative arts was initiated by two ladies, Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby who had left their respective homes in Ireland and settled in the house between 1780 and 1831.  General John Yorke owned the house from 1876-1890 and ran the house as a visitor attraction, building on the creativity of the ladies to ensure that the spirit of the house was not only maintained but elaborated.  As well as converting the kitchen in the cottage to the “Oak Room” he also added a new wing in much the same spirit, (and in which a new kitchen was located). Subsequently the cotton broker George Hunter Robertson and his brother (who owned the house from 1890-1910) also maintained the house and added their own extension.  Both new extensions were demolished in the 1960s due to dry rot. Today Plas Newydd is very well maintained by Denbighshire County Council.

This post, part 2, is dedicated exclusively to the stained glass at Plas Newydd.  You can read about the remarkable cottage and its equally remarkable owners, together with visiting details, on my previous post here (part 1).  In part 3, I have looked at the the “delftware” tiles, the leather wall hangings, the Lincrusta wallpaper and the plasterwork ceilings, which you can find here.  

The stained glass at Plas Newydd

Stained glass windows are an inspiring, beautiful and rewarding form of art.  Their kaleidoscope colours form vibrant designs which sparkle in the sun and embellish the interior with a bewitching light [Trevor Yorke 2022, p.5)

The stained glass at Plas Newydd is a bright and brilliant patchwork of colours and shapes, a mass of fascinating detail.  The emphasis is not on attempting to recreate an authentic sense of a former era, but on using combinations of usually unrelated colour and texture to create new artworks that are light-filled, colourful and charming.

The stained glass was first collected by Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby in the late 1700s, and their collection consisted of fragments of glass from various periods, from both secular and religious buildings, all assembled in leaded panels, set within window openings.  The glass is a riot of fabulously luminous colour and texture and is also a colossal mixture of rich  detail.  The use of traditional lead channels that hold the glass pieces (called “lead-cames”), together with the placement of the pieces in Gothic-style windows, connect them to the idea of a gothic past, but it is not anything that medieval observers would recognize or understand.  Some of the pieces are obviously upside down or lying sideways, and different periods of glass are combined in the same lights.  Every room in which it is used brings bright colour, humour and interest to the space.

So far it has been impossible to determine a source for the stained glass, other than unconfirmed but plausible suggestions that the oldest fragments may have come from the nearby Valle Crucis Cistercian abbey.  A 1970 survey of the stained glass at Plas Newydd by Mostyn Lewis attempted to date the most significant fragments as part of his survey of stained glass in North Wales, described below.  A lot of the glass was found to date to the 17th century, but the entire collection spans the late 15th to the 20th centuries.  All the dates quoted below are supplied by Mostyn Lewis’s book.  I have not found any more recent assessment.

All the photographs of the stained glass in this post are my own.  I was unable to see all of it due to curtains hanging across some window openings, and because there are rooms that are not accessible, particularly the dressing room on the other side of the main bedroom (which used to be open to the public as a small visitor centre but is currently under refurbishment), so there are gaps.  Where I have been unable to match Lewis’s descriptions against the visible glass, I have excluded his observations, except where he describes glass that is now actually missing due to breakage.

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Dating the stained glass

How stained glass is dated

In spite of the apparent chaos of the Plas Newydd fragments, there are clues about the dating.  Although the lancet-shaped windows make it clear that the original idea was to loosely emulate the Gothic, most of the glass is post-medieval. Mostyn Lewis dates the earliest glass to around 1460 (the saint’s head with yellow halo below in the library back wall, right window, shown below) and 1470 (the rose ensoleillée in the library, central window, right), but most of the glass is later and there are fragments dating from the 20th century (the latter including the faux heraldry in the main bedroom and second bedroom, shown left).

Lewis’s dating scheme is based on his identification of different manufacturing methods and painting techniques used over the course of the history of stained glass from the medieval period to the 19th century.  There are also some clues in the subject matter itself.  Heraldry, for example, was only added relatively late to the portfolio of designs.  To understand how Lewis came to his conclusions it is worth having a very quick look at the relevant parts of the history of stained glass.

Coloured glass, conventionally referred to in Britain as stained glass, includes a variety of techniques, with new methods added over time.  Changes to this basic formula provide a terminus post quem  (an earliest possible date) for types of glass as new innovations began to offer more opportunities for stained glass artists and artisans to explore new styles and approaches.

Glass is made from silica sand combined with a flux (a substance that lowers the melting point of silica) and a stabilizer to produce a material that is durable. During the Middle Ages different metal oxides were incorporated into the fabric of the glass itself.  Copper oxide was used to create reds, gold was used to create deep ruby reads, cobalt oxide produced blues, cobalt and manganese oxide produced  purples, and iron oxides provided greens and yellows.  Impurities in those metal oxides lead to variation in those colours.  This is known as pot-metal glass.  Pot-metal glass was not made in Britain throughout medieval, Tudor and Stuart periods, and was imported from French and Flemish regions.

Whilst hot, molten glass can be manipulated and shaped by tools and a glass blowing iron.  There are two main methods of blowing glass into a sheet by gathering molten glass on the end of a blowing iron. The ‘crown’ method involves turning the blowing iron while blowing. The centrifugal force produces a spun disc, thickest in the centre where the blowing iron is joined. Whilst still hot the crown is cut away from the blowing iron and left to cool. Using the ‘cylinder’ technique the molten glass is blown into a balloon-like shape. During the annealing process the ends are cut off and the muff, as it is known, is scored down the middle and then re-heated to form a large flattened sheet. [Ely Museum p.5]

Glass could then be painted with a dark oxide to show details such as facial features and folds in fabric before being re-fired to again fix the colour.  Each panel of coloured glass in a design was separated by lines of lead with an H-shaped profile that provided the slots into which the glass was inserted (called “lead-cames“), after which the lead was soldered to form a matrix.  To waterproof the panes, a black putty was inserted into gaps between the glass and the lead.

To keep matters simple I have based the following quick overview of some of the landmarks in stained glass production on Roger Rosewell’s history of the subject in his 2012 book Stained Glass (see Sources), focusing on what can be seen at Plas Newydd.

Gothic stained glass, familiar from the most elaborate cathedral to the most modest parish church was originally inspired by the abbey church of St Denis near Paris, dating to the 1140s, with its lancet windows filled with coloured glass. In England this found early expression in Canterbury Cathedral (1170) and York Minster (1180-90).   As windows increased in size and complexity to meet the demands of medieval ambition, increasing volumes of stained glass more glass were required to fill the openings.  This reached an apotheosis with Sainte Chapelle in Paris in the mid 13th century with its glorious soaring lancet windows that captured sunlight, converting it into multiple rainbows of colour.  As window openings became more complex, stained glass artists were asked to fit glass within often intricate stone tracery shapes such as trefoils and cinquefoils.

Against this trend towards luxuriant richness of colour and content, a form of glass called grisaille was introduced into abbey churches of the Cistercian monastic order from the early 13th century.  “Plain glass was seen as symbolizing the truth and purity of God, and less likely to distract monks form their prayers,” producing “a silvery light conducive to prayer and contemplation” (Rosewell 2012, p.17).  This began to appear in other churches too, allowing in more light and framing other designs.

A major innovation was introduced in the early 14th century with the use of a silver salt solution that was found to produce a stain which, when heated, would produced colours between yellow and deep orange.  This had a profound influence on stained glass production, introducing unprecedented flexibility into the design process.  It was adopted on the continent and found its way into England by the 1320s.  Instead of each colour being separated by lead, a larger white panel could be painted with the silver oxide, sulphide or chloride stain before being fired to create larger, more complex images.  A nice example from Plas Newydd is the saint’s head with halo, above right.  Multiple coatings of the silver oxide resulted in darker colours, from dark yellow to orange.  You can see the effect of this on the upside-down duck, above right.  Eventually the silver was applied to blue glass to create green.  These innovations also meant that heraldry, which began to be popular in churches in the 13th century, and background patterns became much easier to produce over the coming centuries.

Another innovation of the 14th century is what is referred to as “flashing and abrading,” in which white glass was coated (flashed) with a thin layer of pot-metal coloured glass on one side, before being fired to fuse the two together.  This was more translucent than pot-metal glass, allowing more light to pass through and allowing  gradations of colour and shading, particularly helpful with the deep and somewhat impenetrable red of pot-metal glass.  Byetching it (abrading)  it was possible to achieve rich patterns in the colouring.   There is an example of this technique at Plas Newydd using the same technique shown above on the red background with gold stars.  Grisaille now began to be replaced by small clear glass diamond-shaped “quarries” that featured naturalistic images including flowers, leaves, insects and birds, and their use extended into the 15th to 17th centuries.  For the first time, inscriptions in stained glass are in English as well as Latin.

As stained glass became an essential feature of architecture, and influence from illuminated manuscripts began to make an impression in the late 14th to early 16th century, new approaches to images were explored.  Nature was represented in more realistic ways so that leaf and flower types were recognizable, faces were also painted with more realism.  Canopy images, which had begun to appear in the late 12th century became increasingly elaborate in the 13th and 14th centuries.

In the later 15th century, stained glass now extended into the homes of the newly wealthy middle classes. In churches, images of canopies in stained glass, bits of which can be seen at Plas Newydd, were often “spectacular confections” with “carved bases and capitals  elaborate side shafts, traceried windows, battlements, flying buttresses, turrets and pinacles” (Rosewell, p.24).  Lead dividers were considered more intrusive than helpful, and their presence was minimized where possible.  Brushwork became more important, with the use of shading and improvements in draughtsmanship with the further development of realistic rather than stylized depictions of human anatomy and nature, and the addition of more patterning, although canopy images were retained.  Architecture and landscapes began to appear, including the use of perspective to suggest more realistic depth of field.  Quarries, the small diamond-shaped windows pieces mentioned above, were now stained with the emblems of flowers, birds, leaves, insects and heraldic themes. The oldest piece of stained glass at Plas Newydd as identified by Mostyn Lewis is the “rose ensoleilée,” which he dates to 1470, and is shown at top right of the image.

Between 1500 and 1540 the Renaissance began to influence British stained glass via Burgundian and Flemish artists, with painterly approaches and the introduction of receding perspectives in both landscape and architectural scenes.  A good example of the use of perspective at Plas Newydd is in the Exhumation scene in the Dining Room (see below). 

The first half of the 16th century was a turbulent century for stained glass in Britain, with Henry VIII ordering images of St Thomas Becket to be destroyed in painting, sculpture and glass.  The Dissolution, beginning in 1535, and the subsequent Reformation were responsible for even more destruction; A lot of stained glass was lost after Henry VIII suppressed British monasteries, granting them to his favourite followers, and many of these new private owners demolished church buildings in order to build new country houses.  Under Henry VIII’s son Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553) the proscription against idolatry and relics, particularly the royal Injunction of 1547, resulted in more targeted destruction. Because of the expense of replacement, this practice largely ceased under Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603), but very little new glass was being produced.  

From the mid-16th century into the mid 1600s an important innovation in Europe was the development of translucent enamel paints formed of powdered ground glass mixed with a medium that was painted on to glass and fired to fuse them, just as though the glass was canvas, making lead unnecessary.  It was incredibly versatile, encouraging a more painterly approach that departed from traditional stained glass styles and making heraldry on glass far easier to produce.  As its introduction coincided with Louis XIII’s invasion of Lorraine in 1636 and the destruction of the glass works, meaning that French pot-metal was no longer available, enamel paints became the only affordable solution to coloured glass.  

In the mid 17th century Britain was plunged into Civil War and between 1649 and 1660 became a commonwealth before the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II.  During the subsequent Civil War, stained glass was again targeted.  This was followed by a period of considerable change in church architecture with a different paradigm introduced in the late 1600s and throughout the 18th century,  when light and airy interiors began to be preferred and stained glass was no longer a dominant element.  There was no stained glass, for example, in St Paul’s Cathedral.  The parallel fashion for heraldry helped to sustain the stained glass industry as heraldry became a medium for expressing social status and ancestral values.  The majority of the heraldic glass in Plas Newydd belongs to the 17th century.

The Gothic Revival of the 19th century was accompanied by the Pre-Raphaelite, Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau, all of which influenced the style of imagery in stained glass in both ecclesiastical and secular contexts.  Romantic and sentimental depictions of faces and nature were common, and there was a renewed interest in Gothic shapes and images, although these tended to have a distinctly Victorian twist.  Whilst original medieval techniques were revived for some glass, including pot-metal glass, there was also a production line approach to the manufacture of a lot of stained glass that undermined the overall quality and originality of glass.  William Morris and some of his Arts and Crafts circle emphasized the importance of a personal end-to-end approach, as well as medieval methodologies.  In addition to being installed in churches in vast numbers, stained glass continued to be used in domestic, civic and corporate buildings.  All of the glass in the attic in Plas Newydd is judged by Lewis to date to the 19th century, although it is also possible that some of the yellow-stained pieces were earlier.

 

Dating the Plas Newydd stained glass

The survey of the glass by Mostyn Lewis in his 1970 book on stained glass in North Wales notes different stained glass manufacturing techniques identifiable in the fragments.  He found that a lot of the stained glass at Plas Newydd, like most of the wood carving, dates to the 17th century, even though the area was particularly rich in 15th and early 16th century glass. Perhaps this supports the idea that most of the glass was obtained from dealers who were much further afield, rather than on a piecemeal and ad hoc basis from local sources.  There are also pieces from around 1500, some from later in the 16th century, and some which may be from the 18th century, as well as some that Mostyn Lewis says may be from the early 20th century.

Lewis also notes that although there are British examples of stained glass, much of the glass was Dutch or Flemish in origin.  For example, Lewis believes that the “beautifully-painted fragments of birds and flowers” in the library at Plas Newydd are probably Dutch because they closely resemble examples in paintings.  As well as the fragments, the few complete panels are probably also Dutch or Flemish. The multiple lights that make up the single conception in the dining room (which Lewis refers to as the “Anteroom”) was signed F. Struis, and is dated by Lewis to around 1870,

Themes

There are suggestions from the subject matter about the type of buildings from which the stained glass may have derived. The fragments unsurprisingly contain a lot of religious themes, presumably having come from churches, and there are suggestions, unconfirmed, that some of it was taken from Valle Crucis.  The bearded man with a halo further up the page (library, far right window), in greys and yellows, and the beardless man on an orange background, with a halo and mitre (library, top centre), may have been sourced from church contexts.  It seems probable, as well, that the monochrome scene that Lewis suggests shows the exhumation of a bearded man (although I am not sure why it cannot equally be seen to show a burial) in the dining room, the Flagellation of Christ scene in the main bedroom, and the figure of Mary Magdalene with yellow hair and a blue dress in the Oak Room (on the left as you walk in) were similarly sourced from religious buildings.  There are many similar fragments dotted throughout the house from different periods, including at least two fragments showing the IHS Christogram, and various parts of Gothic-style canopy.

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Although stained glass is most often thought of as being associated mainly with church architecture, during the Tudor period it became commonly employed in civic and domestic contexts where it often took the form of heraldry, where it could be employed to capture and validate family history and ancestry, help to establish new institutional identities, or reinforce the historical legitimacy of older ones, such as guilds or local government institutions.  For example, in the library Lewis says that the heraldry mainly represents descendants of Llywelyn Aurdorchog in northeast Wales including Eyton, Evans of Oswestry and Wattsay (now Wynnstay), Bromfield and, probably, Lloyd of Llangollen Fechan. A nice piece in the main library window shows the three golden wheat sheaves of Chester and Cheshire on a deep blue background.  Some of the heraldry is thought to be fake, such as in the bedrooms.

Other themes focus on the natural world, and could have come from either religious or secular contexts, some of which are very fine, like the spider’s web and plant with fruit shown and a butterfly just below;  the robin with a fly above it next to an ornamentation featuring root vegetables, also shown just below; the peacock feathers shown immediately above, and the upside-down duck in the dining room shown further up the page.  These, however, could have come equally from ecclesiastical, civic, commercial or domestic contexts.

 

 

Collecting the stained glass

Lady Eleanor, who kept journals, some of which survive, and Sarah Ponsonby, some of whose letters are also preserved, failed to write down why they suddenly began collecting carvings and glass, but in the case of the stained glass it is quite likely that they were impressed by the examples at Brynkinalt near Chirk, where they were occasional visitors, and which is also described by Mostyn Lewis in his book on stained glass in North Wales.  The Plas Newydd glass is also mentioned in various contemporary letters and travelogues.  The earliest reference that I have found to date is a year after they moved in, in November 1781:

John Jones’ servant came this morning from Oswestry with a casement window of painted Glass, the arms of Trevor, Owen, and Godolphin family with their different quarterings, a present from Mr Owen of Porkington.

On January 8th 1790 Lady Eleanor’s journal states that they were looking at prices of stained glass from Mr Eginton in Birmingham:

Prices of stained glass – Blue, Green, Purple 5/6 per lb – Yellow 7/6 – Orange 11/7 – Deep red 13/6 – made by Eginton at Soho (Square) Birmingham  – One pound generally measures about a foot square – best mode of purchasing it would be to cut Patterns of Paste board to fit the Frames and write on Each pattern the Colour wanted.

This almost certainly referred to the what their friend the poet Anna Seward reffered to as the “prismatic lantern” that was installed as an arch between the dining room and the library,  Mr Eginton may also have been a supplier of salvaged glass, but even if this was not part of his remit he may well have been able to put the ladies in touch with someone who could supply them.

The journal for May 1790 adds a note to suggest that at least some of their stained glass was the result of gifts from visitors:

Mr and Mrs Garden brought a present of stained glass. They have resided at Orleans these four years

Another reference dates to 1792, when a visitor, Katherine Plymley, noted that in the library there was “a compass window with a great deal of painted glass,” which could refer to any of the oriel (or bay) windows fitted with stained glass.

It was in 1794 that the ladies wrote a letter to Mr Eginton of Birmingham regarding the manufacture of what their friend Anna Seward referred to as their “prismatic lantern.”  It seems certain from the above that the ladies had started collecting stained glass in the last decade of the 18th century. [All the above references are quoted on the Early Tourists in Wales website].

There is no indication in the journals or letters about the original sources from which the glass derived.  There are unconfirmed suggestions that some of the medieval glass came from the nearby ruined medieval Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis, and from which the ladies are said to have liberated both a statue and a font from rubble within the abbey precinct.  The Cistercian monastic order, which in the 12th century had prohibited stained glass, had relaxed its rules by the mid 14th century, particularly impacted by the Black Death, so the abbey, which had a bookroom elaborate door flanked by ornamental window openings in the late 14th century also, in the early 1500s, now included an elaborate abbot’s hall and chapter house.  There are also records of lavish entertaining too. As Greene puts it “Valle Crucis had become unrecognisable as a Cistercian abbey in comparison with its early thirteenth century beginnings” (p,108). At the same time, in this process of relaxed values, new stained glass could have been added.  At the end of the 19th century painted glass was reported in Archaeologia Cambrensis in July 1894 and then again in October 1894, uncovered during archaeological excavations. It was only found in small amounts, but it does indicate that it was once there to be found:

July 1894:
Under the roots of an old sycamore-tree, close to_the buttress, he also came upon a quantity of old glass of different periods (some very early, and some of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries), which has since all been set in a small frame, and is now in the Museum attached to the Abbey.

October 1894:
Of painted glass several fragments have been discovered by the Rev. H. T. Owen, the present custodian. Many of these are so far decayed that it is impossible to make out even their pattern, but some perfect pieces have been found. Those in the best state of preservation were discovered immediately outside the north aisle-windows. Amongst these fragments are the representation of a foot, several fleurs-de-lys, and many pieces of single coloured glass, for the most part blue. The remainder of the glass found was in the ground outside the eastern windows of the presbytery. All this glass, however, is much decayed. Some fragments of glass were found in their old leading. All the specimens  seem to belong to rather a late period; and probably, when first erected, the windows were glazed with white glass, and it was not till the Cistercians began to set the old regulations at defiance that the painted glass was introduced.

I have worked my way through all the excavation reports of the 19th century, including one from 1846, as well as the 1970 excavations by L.A.S Butler (all listed in Sources), but none of them found anything but rare fragments of glass.  All of these reports of course post-date the ladies, although they coincide with the occupations of the house by Mr Robertson (1890-1910), but indicate both that coloured glass was found, and that it was only found in small quantities.  This neither rules in nor rules out that the any of the owners of Plas Newydd acquired their medieval glass from Valle Crucis prior to the excavations, and still leaves the possibility open.

Whatever odds and ends may have come from Valle Crucis, most of the glass was much later in date, and much of the glass was probably sourced from at least one dealer rather than relying exclusively on local availability.  Collecting old fragments of wood, glass, stone and plasterwork was not as unusual as it might initially seem.  Even in the 17th century it was not at all unusual to keep costs down during the building of a new house, or during the updating of an older house, to import salvaged components. The French Revolution of 1789 and the disruption it caused in western Germany and the Low Countries, included the pillaging of monasteries and churches, created a supply that met the growing antiquarian demand for old glass, carvings, sculpture, and furniture.  Salvage became a lucrative trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, either when a building’s interior was remodelled, when a home or church was demolished, or when an impecunious owner sold glass and other decorative arts to raise funds. A new brand of middlemen developed in England to meet the demand, importing looted decorative arts in bulk and making it available to the new brand of wealthy collector.  In the mid-18th century Hugh Walpole, son of Britain’s first Prime Minister, created a vast and elaborate extravaganza with Strawberry Hill House, including a patchwork of stained glass from both England and abroad.

Modern glass was also available to purchase, and some of the Plan Newydd glass was contemporary with either the ladies or later owners.  It has already been noted above that Eleanor’s journal records prices of stained glass from Francis Eginton.  A letter to Mr Eginton regarding the cutting of the glass for the prismatic arch (from the dining room into the library) is quoted further below, but is a clear indication that the ladies were not confined to local sources for either stained glass or specialist work that they required.  The same letter states that Mr Eginton should forward the completed assignment to Shrewsbury where “they may prepare the joiners for putting up the work accordingly,” which again confirms that they were able to use dealers and craftsmen much further afield than their immediate area.

The fragments identified as post-1831 (the date of Sarah Ponsonby’s death) were clearly installed by later tenants.  For example, there is a piece of glass in the attic that is clearly Pre-Raphaelite in inspiration, placing them in the mid- to late-1800s, again after the deaths of Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby.  All of the glass in attic room, formerly Mary Carryll’s room (d.1809), was dated collectively by Lewis to the 19th century but the Pre-Raphaelite style head suggests that these windows may have been installed from the mid-1900s, the Pre-Raphaelites having assembled in 1848 (although active as individuals prior to this date).  It would anyway have been unusual for a bedroom actually in use to have blocked off a good view with uninterrupted stained glass.  It seems at least possible that the attic glass was installed after the deaths of both ladies when the room was no longer used as a maid’s bedroom.  Two other examples are the elaborate window showing Charles V and the Chevalier de Bayard and the roundel showing the Adoration of the Shepherds, both dated by Lewis to 1870.  This suggests that they were installed either by General Yorke or Mr Roberts.  Pieces assigned by Lewis to the 20th century would, if correct, date their installation to the period when the house was occupied by Mr Roberts or a later resident.  This includes the faux heraldry in the two bedrooms.

 

Complete pieces

As well as fragments assembled into patchworks, there are a small number of windows that were installed intact, of which the one below is a particularly good example.  Showing Charles V of Sweden and the Chevalier de Bayard, it is surrounded by Classical style “grotesques,” fantastical images that show mythological beasts and figures that are part-human and part-plant with wings. It was signed F. Struis Antwerp and was dated by Mostyn Lewis to around 1870 (but apparently based on an earlier style).   Charles V inherited a peaceful kingdom and proceeded, as Holy Roman Emperor from 1500-1558  to define his rule by engaging in warfare.  The Chevalier de Bayard was a renowned French late medieval military leader.  Other than being notable warriors, the two were unconnected.  The window has been repaired in at least one place, possibly two.  Most obviously, the legend under the image of Charles V is incomplete, and the panel replacing the gap is obviously a sympathetic repair; in a similar style the colours of the foliage in the paintwork on the heraldic shield at top right seems inconsistent with the other images on the panel.

In the second bedroom, known by Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby as the State Bedroom, there is a very nice roundel showing the Adoration of the Shepherds, which Lewis dates to c.1870.   The use of the lead divides the scene sympathetically, outlining rather than interrupting the main subjects, and it is well painted with realistic facial details.  The face of the Virgin Mary has some Pre-Raphaelite romance in its design, but is delicate, not drifting into some of the excess romanticism of the period.  It retains a sense of the quiet dignity and intimacy of the imagined moment.  The limited use of rich colours provides interest and directs attention towards the primary participants in the scene, without dominating.

 

Fragments

The Oak Room

There are two window openings in the Oak Room.  The first, on the left as you enter the room, consists of two sections divided into two lancets (gothic-style points) and at the end of the room in a niche, a smaller window has been arranged a single lancet.   The stained glass is confined to the window corners, providing interest and colour whilst still allowing light into an otherwise very dark room.

 

 

 

The Dining room

With its leather wall-coverings and glass cabinet, and its simple fire surround, no overmantel, but decorated with delftware tiles, the dining room is a very attractive space that feels quintessentially Victorian.  Most of this is due to General Yorke who, when he bought the house in 1876, not only replaced the kitchen with the Oak Room, but remodelled much of the dining room, adding Lincrusta wallpaper and plan dark oak panneling beneath, and probably the stained glass panels showing Charles V and the Chevalier de Bayard (shown above).  Most of the colour in the room derives from the lovely corner panels filled with fragments of stone glass which, like the Oak Room, were installed by Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby and define the appearance of the lancet-shaped window tops.

The two windows overlooking the formal garden at the front, installed by Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby, are rectangular windows that have been divided into lancet shapes, each with two corners containing stained glass fragments, just like the Oak Room.

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Lewis does not comment much on the left window, saying simply “Continental, yellow stain, coloured enamels,; some British, c.1500.”  He offers more information on the right window:
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Right window, top left corner:

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Right window, top right corner:

From the Dining Room into the Library: Prismatic arch

One of the features most celebrated by visitors to Plas Newydd during the tenure of Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby was the richly coloured illuminated door arch, a wooden arch-shaped container formed at the top of a door leading from the dining room into the library.  On either side of this arch, and underneath it, is stained glass, within which lamps were lit to bring out the luminosity of the glass.  It was a wonderfully innovative feature, that was mentioned by visitors to the house in their journals, letters and travelogues.  Even better, the Early Tourists in Wales website quotes a letter sent by the ladies to a Mr Egington of Birmingham who made it for them:

1794, 14 March
Letter from The Ladies, Llangollen Vale. 14th March, 1794 to Mr Eginton.
Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby are under a necessity of troubling Mr Eginton in regard to a door light of stained glass which Mr Eginton is making for them, according to  a design and directions forwarded to him the 2nd February by Mr Tudor [upholsterer?] of Shrewsbury, and which they shall esteem as a particular favour Mr Eginton completing without loss of time, as a longer delay than the middle of next week will be of the most serious inconvenience to them.  They further request he will inform them by a line, addressed, within, to Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, Llangollen, near Oswestry, what day it leaves Birmingham and may be expected at Shrewsbury that they may prepare the joiners for putting up the work accordingly.  Mr Eginton’s speedy attention to this request, will much oblige the Ladies”.
Provenance: From the 19th century album of Emma Marshall of Penworham Lodge, Preston. Emma was the daughter of William Marshall, landowner and cotton manufacturer and was related by marriage to the Miller family of Baronets, M.P.s and landowners.
http://www.owenandbarlow.com/pd-the-ladies-of-llangollen-autograph-letter.cfm
[Source: Early Tourists in Wales]

In 1795 poet Anna Seward (the so-called “Swan of Lichfield” wrote a letter in which she described the archway, giving it the name “prismatic lantern:

The ingenious friends have invented a kind of prismatic lantern, which occupies the whole elliptic arch of the Gothic door. This lantern is of cut glass, variously coloured, enclosing two lamps with their reflectors. The light it imparts resembles that of a volcano, sanguine and solemn. It is assisted by two glow-worm lamps, that, in little marble reservoirs, stand on the opposite chimney-piece, and these supply the place of the here always chastized day-light, when the dusk of evening sables, or when night wholly involves the thrice-lovely solitude.

In 1796 Seward followed up her appreciation of the arch, amongst other features in a 29-stanza poem called Langollen Vale, the style of which is romantic, sentimental, and somewhat florid.  It contains the following stanza describing the impact of the arch:

How sweet to enter, at the twilight grey,
The dear, minute Lyceum of the dome,
When, thro’ the colour’d crystal, glares the ray,
Sanguine and solemn ‘mid the gathering gloom,
While glow-worm lamps diffuse a pale, green light,
Such as in mossy lanes illume the starless night.

[posted on the Early Tourists in Wales website]

 

The Library

Back window

The library extends outwards into the rear garden, giving the room a more substantial and refined air than the other, smaller rooms in the house.  Although partly concealed behind curtains, this is the biggest single display of stained glass fragments in the house.  It is difficult to see details clearly without a zoom lens or binoculars, but it certainly rewards some contemplation, with multi-period and multi-themed pieces all fitted into a bewilderingly attractive ensemble.

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Fayre Nymphe whose chast and fragrante beautyes runne
A course yt honours and prevents the sune
Tis thou yt breaking through ye lightened ayre
Comst first ahead and shakst day from the hayre
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First landing

A pretty roundel of rich glass is at the top of the stairs, forming the pattern of a flower in red, green and black.  The glass rest of the glass is transparent, letting in light over the staircase and the surrounding carvings, and offering views over the rear garden.

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The main bedroom

Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby shared the main bedroom, an arrangement by no means unusual in the Georgian period.  They used the adjoining dressing room and the bedroom itself in the evenings to update their accounts, write journals and letters.   The windows mix transparent glass and stained sections, providing both colour and light.  The heraldry in the windows is, according to Mostyn, modern and probably invented for decorative purposes.  Pieces of the light green glass surrounding some of the heraldry is textured in a style that was not introduced until the 20th century.  There are however older fragments in the top panels, probably Flemish dating to the 17th century.  

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The second bedroom (the state bedroom)

This is very like the main bedroom in both design and the fragments chosen for their brightness and colour, and also includes heraldry framed in fragments, which Lewis places in the 20th century.

 

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The first floor landing leading to the attic

As in other part of the house, three rectangular windows have been given a gothic appearance by the addition of lancet-shaped frames.  In the corners made are floral and leaf shapes using pot-metal glass that provides a particular richness to the windows..   Inserted into two of the windows are identical botanical motifs, each surrounded by other fragments, all framed. The right hand frame has rounded corners at the base to look a little like a heraldic design.Lewis gives a probably date to the mid-19th century.

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The Attic (Mary Carryll’s Bedroom)

All of the stained glass in the attic has been dated by Mostyn Lewis to the 19th century, although some of it might feasibly be earlier.  This would have blocked the view over what in the days of Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby was a field but is now the formal yew tree garden.

 

 

The Dressing Room (State Room) and the rest of the attic

The dressing room has been closed all season to date, so I have not been able to look at and photograph the stained glass.  Hopefully I will be able to do this at some point in the future, as the room is currently being refurbished.  As well as Mary Carryll’s room here are other rooms at the very top of the house, the attic level, that are not open to the public so I have not been able to include those.
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Lost glass

When talking about the glass in the dining room, Lewis comments “Much of the early window glass has now disappeared, but there are fragments dating from c.1500.”  He does not elaborate on this, but it does imply that there was glass in at least one room that has been replaced, although it is not stated when these replacements might have been made or why a replacement would have been required.

Above the front door was a roundel, now clear glass, which once held a mermaid, which sounds charming, and which he dated to the 17th century, but was already damaged when Lewis was writing in 1970 and has now apparently been removed, or has been lost:

Mermaid, orange hair, yellow tail, holds mirror on which their are arms (unidentified)

In the library Lewis describes a piece of glass that has been lost, which is such a shame as it sounds like a classic:

Until recently, delightfully vulgar fragment of a man with trousers down, telling off two others, one sitting on basket (all that remains), probably Flemish early C.XVII; now destroyed, whether by stone of naughty child or by umbrella of prude, I do not know. (p.121)

Fascinatingly, in 1818 G.H. Steele wrote in his travelogue A Three Weeks Tour into Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales, that there was “a beautiful greenhouse the front of which consists of beautiful stained glass.”  It was also mentioned in the auction catalogue that followed Sarah’s death.  I would have given much to have seen it!

Finally, it is not known exactly what either of the wings added by General Yorke and Mr Robertson looked like, but this postcard shows a room, which although it looks very like the library in some ways, does not look like the stained glass ass it is today.  General Yorke ran the house as a museum, so the postcard may have dated to this time.

Final Comments

Plas Newydd is an absolute rock-star of a house, full of colour, light, and original creativity.  It belongs not only to the inspiration of Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby but also to subsequent owners who built on the remarkable legacy that the ladies had built.  The stained glass was probably the earliest of the steps taken by Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby in their long history of collecting and installing salvaged decorative arts, beginning almost as soon as they arrive in the 1780s; their collections of wood carving only seem to have begun in 1814.  Their experiences of collecting stained glass may well have set their other collections in motion.

Whether or not the eclectic and diverse stained glass can be considered to have artistic merit is entirely subjective and a matter of personal taste.  Writing in 1968 John Harries made the following comment about mixed stained glass:

Many pictures in galleries have been retouched or repainted in surprisingly large areas, and we do not think a great deal worse of them for that.  But what of those windows where a light, or window opening, has been made up of assorted panels or figures, roundels and shields, bits and pieces of borders and patternwork by the same artist – even by different artists, for from different churches? . . . The result would be interesting but ridiculous.  And yet a surprisingly large number of windows are like this . . . They are often still enjoyable. [Harries 1968, 1980, p.5]

Pointing to the “rich colour and beautiful drawing of detail” Harries believes that it says “much for the robustness of stained glass” that it retains its beauty in spite of its removal from its original context.  This is exactly the case at Plas Newydd where the stained glass is frequently referred to as a jigsaw, but unlike a jigsaw it was never intended to form a coherent and recognizable whole.  Instead, if an analogy is needed, then it is more like a patchwork, with attractive but random pieces joined together to create a beautiful and unique artistic creation, full of wit and imagination.

Visiting

For visiting details, please see my previous post about Plas Newydd here.  As well as the splendid house, there is a limited amount of free parking, an excellent cafe and lovely stream-side walks with wild flowers.

Sources

With thanks to stained glass specialist Aleta Doran (www.aletadoran.co.uk/) for sending me material to help with my understanding of the background history to stained glass manufacture and development – and for untangling my confusion about grisaille glass!

Books, booklets and papers

Butler, L.A.S. 1976.  Valle Crucis Abbey:  An Excavation in 1970.  Archaeologia Cambrensis 125 (1976), p.80-116

Fleming, John. and Honour, Hugh 1977, 1989 (2nd edition). The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. Viking

Greene, J. Patrick. 1992. Medieval Monasteries. Leicester University Press

Harries, John 1968, 1980 (2nd edition). Discovering Stained Glass. Shire Publications Ltd.

Harris, John. 2007. Moving Rooms. The Trade in Architectural Salvages. Yale University Press

Hicklin, John 1847.  The “Ladies of Llangollen,”
as sketched by many hands; with notices of
other objects of interest in “That Sweetest of Vales.”
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20810/20810-h/20810-h.htm

Hughes, Harold 1894.  Valle Crucis Abbey. Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th Series, Vol.XI, No.XLIII, July 1894, p.169-185

Hughes, Harold 1894.  Valle Crucis Abbey. Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th Series, Vol.XI, No.XLIV, October 1894, p.257-275

Hughes, Harold 1895.  Valle Crucis Abbey. Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th Series, Vol.XII, No.XLV, January 1895, p.5-17

Lewis, Mostyn 1970. Stained Glass in North Wales up to 1850. John Sherratt and Son Ltd.

Mavor, Elizabeth 1984.  Life with the Ladies of Llangollen. Viking (hardback). (Published by Penguin in 1986 in paperback as A Year with the Ladies of Llangollen)

McRae Thomson, Aidan 2018. Stained Glass. Amberley Publishing

Osborne, Harold (ed.) 1970. The Oxford Companion to Art. Oxford University Press

Osborne, Harold (ed.) 1975. The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts. Oxford University Press

Rosewell, Roger 2012. Stained Glass. Shire Library

Veysey, A. Geoffrey and David Freeman 1988.  Plas Newydd and the Ladies of Llangollen. Glyndwr District Council.  (Based on the booklet by Veysey, County Archivist for Clwyd County Council, published in 1980.  Two sections were substantially updated by Freeman in 1988 – the Oak Room and the Ladies’ Bedchamber).

Yorke, Trevor 2022. Victorian Stained Glass. Shire

 

Websites

Brynkinalt Estate
https://www.brynkinalt.co.uk/

Early Tourists in Wales
Plas Newydd Home Page
https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/attractions/mansions-and-grounds/ladies-of-llangollen/
Descriptions of Plas Newydd and the Ladies of Llangollen
https://sublimewales.wordpress.com/attractions/mansions-and-grounds/ladies-of-llangollen/descriptions-of-plas-newydd-and-the-ladies-of-llangollen/

The Leiden Collection
Young woman in a niche with parrot and cage
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archives/artwork/GD-105_young-woman-in-a-niche-with-a-parrot-and-cage_2023.pdf

Roaringwater Journal
Netherlandish Glass in Ireland
https://roaringwaterjournal.com/2023/09/24/netherlandish-glass-in-ireland/

The Stained Glass Museum
Glossary
The Development of Stained Glass in England
https://stainedglassmuseum.com/glossary

West Midlands History
Francis Egington. Designer and Glasspainter. By Martin Ellis, Curator of Applied Art, Birmingham Museums Trust (no date)
https://historywm.com/file/historywm/e04-a15-francis-eginton-89236.pdf

 

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