This is the oldest surviving coloured glass in Northern Europe.
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the art of glazing died out. Bede tells us in History of the Abbots of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow that the skill was reintroduced into England in 675 by Abbot Benedict Biscop who sent for glaziers from Gaul to make and glaze the windows of his monastery church at Monkwearmouth (and later Jarrow in Northumbria).
As a result, artists 1,300 years ago were introduced to a way of painting with light in a rich palette of colours still visible in stained-glass windows on display in Bede’s World and installed in an original 7th century window light in the chancel of St Paul’s Church next to the Museum.
By 7th century craftsmen at the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastic site.
On display at Bede’s World, as part of a collection of Anglo Saxon glass.
www.bedesworld.co.uk
Also see collections at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
www.sunderland.gov.uk
