Alexander Walker and Stephen Adam Studio, War Memorial window (1920), Isle of Bute Parish Church, Rothesay.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Alexander Walker and Stephen Adam Studio, detail of War Memorial window (1920), Isle of Bute Parish Church, Rothesay.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Isle of Bute Parish Church, Rothesay, Isle of Bute

Address

Isle of Bute Parish Church, Townhead, Rothesay, Isle of Bute PA20 9JH

Recommended by

Jeff Hopewell (10)

Highlight

World War One memorial to the left of the pulpit

Artist, maker and date

Reason for highlighting

The destruction of war is rarely depicted, but here is a deserted battlefield with a howitzer and a tank in the foreground and a ruined church to the far left. Above is a vision of the Risen Christ.

Other comments

For further details of the windows, including several others by the Stephen Adam Studio and a Second World War memorial, 1950, by Douglas Hamilton, see the church website at United Church of Bute – Building. The windows were fully conserved in 2009 by Rainbow Glass of Prestwick.

Artist/maker notes

Alexander Walker (1869-1929) trained at the Glasgow Athenaeum. His subsequent career included teaching at the Glasgow School of Art and designing for the Stephen Adam Studio and Guthrie & Wells, amongst others. In the late 1920s he moved to Orkney, where he supervised and designed many of the new windows being installed in St Magnus Cathedral by Oscar Paterson.

Stephen Adam Studio
Stephen Adam established his first independent studio in 1870. In 1909 he entered into partnership with Alf Webster, who took over the studio when Adam died the following year. Upon Webster’s tragically early death in 1915, his widow continued to run the business, assisted in the 1920s by Douglas Hamilton, until her son, Gordon Webster, was able to take control in 1929. He retained the Studio name until about 1936, after which time he felt confident enough to use his own name.

Sources:
Scotland’s Stained Glass: Making the colours sing by Michael Donnelly (Historic Scotland, 1997)
Orchestrations of Colour – The stained glass of Douglas Hamilton by Jeff Hopewell (The Coplow Press, 2020)

Highlighted dates at this location

1920 (Go to date search)