The Beauty of Stained Glass

A notable feature of the church, the stained glass windows of the Old Kirk are truly magnificent and one of the main attractions to visitors, as they flood the sanctuary with light and colour on all sides. They exhibit a wealth of different styles from Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the famous Victorian artist, to modern day John Clark and Crear McCartney, and include an unusual and distinctive series of portrait medallions of Reformed Scottish clergymen  round the top of the side windows. Among these portraits are John Knox, the martyrs Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart,  Alexander Henderson  and George Gillespie, Thomas Chalmers, some Victorian churchmen, and Rev. John Martin of the Old Kirk.

Treasures of the Old Kirk include George Gillespie’s stained glass portrait from the original painted circa 1643 in the window beside the south porch while the memorial stone erected by his grandson after the original was destroyed by Archbishop Sharp is on the wall of the south porch.

Until recently, the church had two attractive stained-glass windows which dated back to 1839. Originally fitted in the east gable, they were replaced in 1886 by the Russell memorial windows and re-inserted in the west gable. Unfortunately, the glass and leadwork of those windows were seriously damaged by the disastrous fire in 1986, and they were replaced by the modem windows which now adorn the west gable but they can still be seen represented in their original “lino-print” form beside a model of the Old Kirk tower presently in the church.

The Burne-Jones Windows : The oldest windows are now the two stained-glass windows placed in the east wall of the church as a memorial to the late Mr James Russell who died suddenly in November 1877. A writer and agent of the City of Glasgow Bank in the High Street, he was a member of the Parish Church, but he was a most liberally-minded Christian as is evidenced by the fact that four ministers took part in his funeral service.

The windows were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, a famous stained-glass artist, and were executed at the works of William Morris, Merton Abbey, Surrey. The association of Sir Edward Burne-Jones with William Morris, D.G. Rossetti, Madox Brown and other pre-Raphaelites, produced the distinctive artistic emphasis evident in the decoration of these windows. Michael Donnelly, an expert in this field, described them on a recent visit as perhaps the finest Burne-Jones windows in situ.   The tinted glasses give a well-balanced scheme of colour and are valuable illustrations of the application of decorative art to window glass. The windows were dedicated by the Rev Professor Milligan, DD, of Aberdeen on 19 September 1886.

All the windows in the north and south walls of the church were donated  in 1914 by Mr John Hunter, a local businessman, whose name is remembered in nearby Hunter Street, the Hunter Halls of the church, and Hunter House, formerly the Hunter Hospital, in whose grounds he is buried. (at one time known as St.Brycedale House). Initially he had installed two windows in memory of his father and mother. The one on the north side at the east end is to his father William Hunter who died in 1862, and who had been an elder for 20 years, and the one on the south side opposite is to his mother Janet Smith or Hunter who died in 1866. He then wrote to the Heritors in June 1914 to say that he would put in, at his own expense, stained glass in the remaining windows of the church, one of which was in memory of his sister Janet who had died in 1903. These windows were dedicated on 7 February 1915 by the Rev Professor Cooper, DD, Glasgow University. The upper windows commemorate ministers in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation whose names are landmarks of the history of the Church, John Knox, the St. Andrews martyrs Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, Edward Irving, George Gillespie, Thomas Chalmers, Archibald Charteris, and John Martin of the Old Kirk to name but a few, while the lower windows depict various aspects of the Holy Gospel. The work was carried out by the firm Gascoigne of Nottingham.

Dr Cooper in his remarks said the donor had beautified this parish church with perhaps the most complete and magnificent set of stained-glass windows to be seen anywhere in Scotland.

Viewing these windows from the north-east corner of the church, we see the Adoration of the Wise Men, with the star shining through the little stable window behind them. Next is the presentation of the child, Jesus, in the Temple, where he is welcomed by Simeon and Anna.   (Luke, chapter 2)