The stained glass window in St Bridget’s Church in Bridstow, that was smashed by a burglar, has now been repaired.

In July this year, the Ross Gazette reported that the Church had been a victim of repeated crime, with four incidents occurring over a six week period.

On one of these occasions, a very rare, very beautiful stained glass window was smashed. At the time, it was estimated that this act alone caused £6000 worth of damage. During another occasion, the perpetrator smashed another window to gain access to the room at the back of the church.

The glass in the stained glass window, and the glass at the back of the church has now been repaired. The repair work for this damage cost a great deal less than was initially estimated, with both jobs costing approximately £2000.

A local company, Ark Stained Glass completed the repair work. Tony O’Donnell, the Studio Manager told the Ross Gazette: “When Ark Stained Glass Ltd are ever called in to restore a very badly damaged stained glass window, it’s always the start of a detective trail. What had been there has all but disappeared in many cases, with only shards of glass remaining. It’s also a surprise as to how much the things we value – be it at home or in our Church – are rarely documented.

“This was the case with the vandalised window at St Bridget’s where no photographs of the original window were available. All of the lower right hand panel apart from five or six small pieces had been totally smashed and very little could be salvaged.

“But in today’s society when you trawl the internet, 99% of the time, someone somewhere has visited a Church and published photographs of the stained glass windows.

Tony explained that he was able to discover that the stained glass window at St Bridget’s Church, was originally done by Charles Kempe in 1874.

Once he had a photograph of the window, and a little of its history, the next stage was to take a rubbing of the lead along with detailed photographs of the undamaged window to the left. After these rubbings were taken, coloured glass and lead were selected to match the original glass remaining in the undamaged window.

Tony then began the elaborate process to create the new stained glass window, that he hopes will last for hundreds of years.

A spokesperson, on behalf of the PCC and the congregation of Saint Bridget’s Church, told the Gazette: “We’re very pleased and we think it’s very beautiful. It’s lovely to see it all back together.”

After the break ins at the church, there was a good response from the community; the church held a cream tea afternoon, which was well attended, and a woman made a very generous donation.