John Rylands Library, North West, Manchester

John Rylands Library, Manchester

Extensive refurbishment of the glazing scheme (six hundred leaded glass panels)
2005/6/7
Conservation Architect – Lloyd Evans Prichard

Pendle Stained Glass Ltd was chosen for this prestigious project to restore the glazing at the John Rylands Library in Manchester City Centre. Designed by Basil Champneys and inaugurated in 1899, it is one of the finest neo-Gothic buildings in Europe, housing rare collections of books, manuscripts and a world renowned archive on the cotton industry.

Each of the six hundred leaded panels, composed of spun glass roundels, was completely dismantled, carefully cleaned, re-leaded and refitted. This huge undertaking, involved approximately 3,000 square feet of re-leading with over sixty thousand individual roundels. Nine thousand new roundels were especially blown and imported from Germany (in six different shades) to replace originals that had deteriorated beyond repair. Organization on a large scale and painstaking attention to detail were the key to the successful completion of this project.