Stephen Adam Jun., detail of south west window, Our Lord blessing Children (1909), Church of St James the Less, Bishopbriggs, E Dunbartonshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Stephen Adam Jun., detail of south west window, the Sermon on the Mount (1909), Church of St James the Less, Bishopbriggs, E Dunbartonshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Church of St James the Less, Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire

Address

Church of St James the Less, Hilton Road, Bishopbriggs, G64 3EL

Recommended by

Iain B Galbraith (10)

Highlight

Three south west wall windows

Artist, maker and date

Stephen Adam Junior, 1909

Reason for highlighting

These three south west wall windows by Stephen Adam Junior transferred here from the former Trinity Congregational Church, Glasgow. There are not many extant examples of Stephen Adam Jun.’s windows, but what does survive shows him to be an artist of exceptional talent whose work contains some strong influences from his father’s studio, although in a different colour palette and sometimes with even stronger dramatic emphasis.

The three windows illustrates Our Lord blessing Children; the Sermon on the Mount; and the Calling of St Andrew and St Peter. The windows are complimented by three north west wall windows that illustrate Our Lord in the Wilderness; Our Lord crowned with Thorns; and the Agony in the Garden. Pre-Raphaelite influences present and the description ‘lushly coloured painterly lights’* is apposite.

Other comments

When the Woodlands Road United Presbyterian Church in Glasgow closed, the church obtained a quartet windows of the Four Evangelists made by Morris & Co. (1882), to earlier designs by Burne-Jones (1872-74). They have been described as being of knock out quality*, which they are!

* Buildings of Scotland – Stirling and Central Scotland by John Gifford and Frank Arneil Walker (Yale University Press, 2002)

Artist/maker notes

Stephen Baillie Adam Jun. (1873-1960) studied at the Glasgow School of Art before joining his father’s firm, which became Stephen Adam & Son. However, the two men quarrelled, which lead to a permanent separation and a breaking of the partnership in 1904. Afterwards he established his own studio, which included a period working with Robert Paterson, a skilled cabinet maker, before eventually moving to America.

Sources:
Scotland’s Stained Glass Making the Colours Sing by Michael Donnelly (Historic Scotland, 1977)
200 Scottish Stained Glass Artists by Rona H Moody in The Journal of Stained Glass Scotland Issue Vol XXX (2006)