Frederick Preedy, east window (1867), Church of St Mary, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Frederick Preedy, detail of the east window (1867), Church of St Mary, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Church of St Mary, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk

Address

Church of St Mary, Church Road, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk PE36 6JS

Recommended by

Norfolk Stained Glass (10)

Highlight

East window

Artist, maker and date

Frederick Preedy, c.1867

Reason for highlighting

Believed by many to be Frederick Preedy’s greatest work the window was designed c.1867 to commemorate the death of Preedy’s cousin, Henry Styleman le Strange of Hunstanton Hall. Following a restoration in 2005 the glass was replaced in pristine condition allowing Preedy’s work to be admired in all of its glory.

Other comments

Preedy made a number of other windows for the church including the east window of the south aisle, c.1862, although here the design is credited in Pevsner* to Le Strange, who was himself an amateur artist.

The one contemporary work in the church is an Annunciation window (1980), by Paul Quail.

Further information: Norfolk Stained Glass – Old Hunstanton

* Buildings of England – Norfolk 2: North-west and south by Nikolaus Pevsner and Bill Wilson (Yale University Press, 2002)

Artist/maker notes

Frederick Preedy (1820-98) trained as an architect and was of the same generation of High Victorian Gothicists as Butterfield, Street & Burges. In the 1840s & 50s opinion was divided as to whether stained glass design should be left to the best artists, or, as Street & Burges advocated, be decided by architects. As a result Street and his contemporaries often produced their own designs, but used others to undertake manufacture. Preedy was unique in both designing and painting stained glass himself, producing some windows of high quality and amongst the finest of the High Victorian period.

Source: The Stained Glass of Frederick Preedy (1820-1898) A Catalogue of Designs by Michael Kerney (The Ecclesiological Society, 2001)