Hugh East and Hendra & Harper, east window (1949), Church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, London.

Photo: Jane Brocket

Hugh East and Hendra & Harper, detail of east window (1949), Church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, London.

Photo: Jane Brocket

Church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney High Street, London E1

Address

Church of St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney High Street, London E1 0NR

Recommended by

Jane Brocket (10)

Highlight

East window

Artist, maker and date

Reason for highlighting

In its lower section, the window contains an exceptionally detailed panorama of the post-Blitz East End surrounding the church as it would have looked immediately after the war, with the church itself, gasometers, chimneys, cranes, and bombed-out terraced housing. The quality of the glass-painting and the level of detail are stunning.

Other comments

The church has two further windows by Hugh Easton made in 1952. They are good examples of Easton’s distinctive style and contents. These are not to everyone’s taste, but as Easton won so many important post-war commissions including the Battle of Britain window in Westminster Abbey, they are worth a look.

Artist/maker notes

Hugh Easton (1906-65) learnt the craft of stained glass with the Guildford firm of George Blacking, before opening his first studio in Cambridge. After war work he returned to stained glass and a studio in London. He painted his early windows, but soon discovered that if he found “an artist who could paint and interpret one’s drawings, a far greater technical mastery was achieved.”

Stylistically Easton’s work derives from Sir Ninian Comper and his pupil Christopher Webb with whom Easton was on ‘weekly visiting’ terms at Webb’s Orchard House Studio in St Albans.

Source: Hugh Easton by Caroline Swash, 2004 – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Hendra & Harper
Robert Leslie Hendra (1912-1968) and Geoffrey Felix Harper (1913-66) had a studio in Harpenden, Hertfordshire where they produced many windows for Hugh Easton, including his famous Battle of Britain window in Westminster Abbey.

Highlighted dates at this location

1949 (Go to date search)