When James Wyatt was restoring Salisbury cathedral at the end of the 18th century, “whole cartloads” of medieval glass were removed and shot into the town ditch, which was being filled in. Wyatt was not an iconoclast by religious conviction, he just meant to “improve” such cathedrals by opening them up and clearing clutter like screens and tombs, and stained glass.
This historical low point comes in a neat introductory book, Stained Glass by Roger Rosewell (Shire, £7.99). Its 100 colour illustrations are particularly well chosen and excellently photographed, for the author is the news editor of Vidimus, the online magazine devoted to stained glass. It looks good online.
