BEAUTIFUL rare Tudor stained glass windows in a historic chapel will be removed and cleaned in an ambitious project being undertaken by the National Trust.

The stained glass at The Vyne, in Sherborne St John, survived Cromwell’s armies during the Civil War and bombing raids of the Second World War.

Now it is the focus of conservation work to protect it from another enemy – pitting and corrosion caused by condensation.

The glass is considered to be among the most beautiful 16th-century glass in Europe and among the scenes in the windows is an image of a young King Henry VIII, who stayed at The Vyne on several occasions, first with Catherine of Aragon and later with Anne Boleyn, as the guest of Lord Chamberlain William Sandys, who owned the house.

Another window depicts Catherine of Aragon and a third shows Henry’s sister Margaret, who married James IV of Scotland when she was just 13-years-old.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Seventeen of the chapel’s 18 windows will be removed so they can be cleaned and re-fitted with state-of- the-art protective glazing in the most ambitious stained glass project to be undertaken by the conservation charity.

The window spaces will be temporarily filled with clear glass, showing the simple lead tracery that matches the outline of the original images and allowing the chapel to be flooded with natural light.

A scaffold viewing platform has been installed allowing visitors to see much more clearly the detail on some of the other historic features in what Horace Walpole described as “the most heavenly chapel in all the world”.

These include the Tudor wooden stalls carved with heraldry, plant motifs and cherubs and the 18thcentury trompe l’oeil wall decoration.

Dominique Shembry, The Vyne’s House steward, said: “We have successfully trialled the process of fitting new glazing on one of the 18 windows which depicts the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, so this will remain in situ and show how the others will look when they return from conservation.

“This is a rare opportunity to witness a unique and very exciting conservation project, as it happens.

“We’ll be giving visitors the chance to experience our chapel as it’s never been seen before and to talk to stained glass specialists as they carry out the work ahead of the return of the stained glass in a few months’ time.”

The exhibition space will also offer a chance to examine some of the glass close up before it is reinstated in the chapel and to learn more about its mysterious past.

A specially commissioned piece of stained glass replicating the window featuring King Henry VIII will reveal the differences in materials and techniques between stained glass then and now.

The external wire grills currently covering the chapel windows will be permanently removed, allowing the glass to be seen in its original 16th century splendour once it is returned later this year.

Audio-visual technology supplied by Panasonic, including wearable cameras worn at face level by the conservators, will be projected into a new exhibition space, giving visitors a unique opportunity to follow the work as it progresses.

The origins of the stained glass and their survival are steeped in mystery.

They are believed to have originally been created for the nearby Holy Ghost Chapel by Flemish glaziers from the school of great European artisans involved in major schemes such as Henry VIII’s King’s College Chapel, in Cambridge.

At some point, possibly to protect it from ransacking Roundheads during the Civil War, the glass was removed and hidden, later re-appearing in the chapel at The Vyne.

The house was built in the 16th century as a huge palace for Lord Sandys and went through a series of changes in the 18th and 19th centuries under the Sandys and the Chute families, which is reflected in its different interior design throughout the house.

The National Trust took over the running of the house following the death of Sir Charles Chute in 1956.