Medieval stained-glass fragments are to be returned to St Andrew’s Church in Heckington. The majority of the current church building was erected between c.1310 and the 1330s, although the nave aisle, south porch, and lower part of the south transept are earlier. In 1825, it was recorded that remnants of medieval glass from the windows in the church were collected and placed in one window, probably the west window, which they nearly filled. The fragments were removed in c.1946 to make way for a modern commission and have been in storage since then. The fragments are mostly of 14th-century date and appear to have filled cusped heads and tracery lights. In her volume The Medieval Stained Glass of the County of Lincolnshire Penny Hebgin-Barnes notes: ‘The quality of the glass-painting of some of these fragments suggests that the glazing of the windows from which they came was of the same high standard as the architecture of Heckington church.’ The church had all but forgotten the existence of the glass and is now eager to see it returned from storage. Plans are underway to restore a chancery chapel on the north side of the church, and it is hoped the glass may be placed here. A new group is being launched to develop St Andrew’s appeal to visitors – the church is already viewed as one of the grandest of its kind in the country – and the recovered medieval glass will contribute to the promotion of its beauty and importance as a place of worship.
Further Reading
Penny Hebgin-Barnes, The Medieval Stained Glass of the County of Lincolnshire, CVMA (GB), Summary Catalogue 3, Oxford, 1996, pp. 118–19
