30 CONTEXT 177 : SEPTEMBER 2023 the city, Manchester Cathedral lost its visual dominance during the expansion of the city in the industrial revolution and developments in the 20th and 21st centuries. It recently celebrated its 600th anniversary. When the medieval church of St Mary was considered too small, permission was granted by charter in 1421 by King Henry V and the pope to build a new church: the Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George. In 1847 it became Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George. The origins of the earliest church building on this site can be dated to 700 AD, as evidenced by the Angel Stone, which was found during the Victorian restoration and is securely displayed in the cathedral. The cathedral has been described by John Harvey as ‘one of the best examples of the (Perpendicular) style with its spreading array of chapels, its grand tower, and its exquisitely carved stalls’. Beside the magnificent 15th-century chancel, including choir stalls, misericords and Bishop’s chair, the various chapels, memorials and furnishings and the impressive Stoller organ, the stained glass windows inserted in the past 60 years have added an exciting and colourful experience. Any historic glass that had survived the Civil War, the Reformation and the Victorian restoration was obliterated by the Luftwaffe in the 1940 Manchester Blitz. Part of the cathedral building was also destroyed. The repairs to the blitz damaged windows were managed by Hubert Worthington (1886– 1963), the cathedral architect. His restoration of the windows included the use of transparent or slightly tinted Norman slab glass from Sunderland, except for the east window. Many of these windows are still in place today. They provided a blank canvas for the dean and chapter to create, as funds allowed, a new artistic identity for the cathedral. The oldest is the east window, located in the Lady Chapel. It was restored and part of the wall was rebuilt. The stained glass artist was Gerald Smith (1883–1959), working in a traditional style following AK Nicholson (1871–1937) with whom he worked. The window was created in memory of Henry Boddington JP (1849–1925) and includes figures of other local people (John Byrom, Thomas Langley and Hugh Oldham), saints (Chad and Aidan) and Christ in Majesty and has lights with shields and motifs. There are several excellent windows by Mark Cazalet, Alan Lewis, Margaret Traherne and Linda Walton. However, it is the sublime windows of Tony Holloway that are of particular importance. Combining abstract designs and contextual symbols with traditional glass colours, they read as a group of five windows. Antony Holloway (1928–2000) was an artist, sculptor and lecturer. He worked with Manchester architect (and cathedral architect) Harry M Fairhurst on projects such as the 68 metre concrete brutalist sculptural wall at UMIST in Manchester (1968). Fairhurst and Holloway continued to collaborate on a series of five windows at the west end of the cathedral. The first three were designed around the history of the city and dedicated to the saints of the cathedral, using abstract designs and traditional colours. Holloway’s three central windows, showing St George, St Mary and St Denys, connect directly to the building through symbolism. The design of the St George window (1971), set within the 15th-century fabric, incorporates the white cross of Christianity and the red cross of St George. The use of colours and glass shapes define the tail, scales and eyes of the dragon. The St Mary window (1980), in the rebuilt tower (1868) above the west door, is the central of the five windows. It reflects the patron saint of the earliest church with a blue circle representing the ancient symbol of Christian perfection. The colour blue is traditionally associated with St Mary the Virgin. The circle is dissected by white glass, representing a shaft of light referring to the death of Jesus, thus breaking the perfect circle. The faint lettering in the blue glass area is from the Magnificat. The St Denys window (1976), set within the 15th-century fabric, is dominated by a red double cross, referring to the double barred cross of Lorraine, an emblem of the French nobility in 1431. It can also refer to Jesus on The 1976 St Denys window is set within the 15th-century fabric.
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