Gwynedd: Saved stained glass windows installed at church

The windows' new home at St David's in Mold, Flintshire, was the only Catholic church in north Wales big enough to house them

Twelve stained glass windows that were saved from a demolished church have been installed at another one.

The windows were designed by sculptor Jonah Jones for the Resurrection of Our Saviour Church in Morfa Nefyn, on the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd in the 1960s.

Their new home, St David's in Mold, Flintshire, was the only Catholic church in north Wales big enough to house them.

It took two years and £66,000 to move, refurbish and repair the windows.

Jonah Jones created the 12 abstract windows at his Gwynedd workshop in 1966 using the "dalles de verre" technique.

This involves cutting one inch thick slabs of coloured glass and joining them together with concrete, or in this case epoxy resin.

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The Resurrection of Our Saviour Church was demolished in 2019 but a project was launched to preserve the windows.

Even at St David's in Mold, there was only space for eight in front of existing window panes. Four of the windows have been fixed to the walls and illuminated from behind.

The windows' new home, St David's Church in Mold

Mike Bunting, a parishioner of St David's, welcomed the challenge of installing the art, even though it took two years, fundraising from numerous sources and logistical challenges.

"Each of the panels weighs 120kg (265lbs)," he said.

"I wondered how to get them up there so we actually used rock climbing anchors about a metre-and-a-half above them to actually lift them to get them into position."

Mike Bunting is a retired chartered engineer and a parishioner of St David's church

Jonah Jones' son Peter said he was thrilled the windows were now in their new home.

Mr Jones said his father had helped pave the way for an alternative to using concrete to join the slabs of glass together.

"It was realised there would be problems with concrete because it didn't expand in the heat at the same rate as the glass did, so there was a switch to epoxy resin which was a completely new technique," he said.

"So Jonah was one of a number of pioneers and these windows are made with epoxy resin."

Some of the windows were repaired and refurbished at Swansea College of Art's Architectural Glass Centre

Mark Philpot, master of ceremonies at St David's Church, said: "There's a lot of patrimony that is really valuable and might get lost.

"Windows are susceptible to being lost because of the weather or vandalism. Here, because they're on the inside, they're protected and will therefore last as long as this church does"

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