Church of All Saints, Stretford, Greater Manchester (Lancashire)

The Trinity window was originally commissioned as a west window for a new church, built after the old church was destroyed by an incendiary bomb in 1940. However, a subsequent re-ordering in the 1970s means that it is now makes a dramatic backdrop to the altar. It is a fantastic example of Clarke’s work and of British modernism.

The window is unusual in being in horizontal format and features a large infinity symbol (a looped figure of 8, shown on its side). The infinity symbol shape encloses a cross and a dove within each loop. These three symbols together symbolise the Holy Trinity. The glass is held within vertical aluminium mullions. The palette is light in tone, using glass of pale colours, with various turquoise, pale blue and amethyst tints. The glass has been painted with a matt effect to modify the light, and particularly to emphasise the centre of the window, which is less painted and made of lighter toned glass and appears as a symbolic beam of light. The size of the pieces of glass used varies greatly, and the dynamic jagged lead-lines add to the dynamism of the whole.