"Bringing together all who love Great Malvern Priory"Come and join us!
"Bringing together all who love Great Malvern Priory"
Come and join us!
WHAT THE FRIENDS OF MALVERN PRIORY IS ALL ABOUT
Events
Enjoy lunchtime talks and concerts at Lunchbox, the annual Friends' Evensong, the Community Carol Service and the Heritage and Faith Lecture.
The Friends' Priory Shop
Music
Enjoy and support the musical tradition of the Priory.
PROJECT LIGHT AND SPACE.... Exciting News...
The Priory has been successful in its application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for ‘Project Light and Space’ and has been awarded a Development Phase grant of £695,362.
The Friends is delighted with the news and is supporting the Project. The Friends has pledged a grant of £50,000 for the current Development Phase and a further £200,000 for the Delivery Phase.
This Project will enable the Priory to plan towards conserving more of its precious medieval stained glass windows, to make other essential repairs, to enable the church have more up to date facilities and to become more accessible for everyone.
The Friends is delighted with the news and is supporting the Project. The Friends has pledged a grant of £50,000 for the current Development Phase and a further £200,000 for the Delivery Phase.
"The Malvern Knight" by Roger Latham at the Friends' AGM 2026
Roger's fascintating talk after the 2026 AGM can be found under 'Recorded Talks' on this website.
The Priory's Medieval Glass and its People - 2026 Heritage and Faith lecture.
A lecture about the people depicted in the glass, the people who created it and the people who paid for it all those years ago. We are delighted that Dr. Heather Gilderdale Scott, who is an expert on the medieval glass of Great Malvern Priory, will be our speaker for the evening.
Tickets are on sale now in the Friends' Priory Shop for £15 or online from TicketSource. www.ticketsource.com/booking/select/vodmpnlqalyb
Tickets are now available from Ticket Source and will also be available from The Friends' Shop in the Priory nearer the time.
Tales in Oak : A Tour of the Misericords of Great Malvern Priory
A new beautifully illustrated guidebook by Katherine Little available from the Friends' Shop in the Priory for £7.
Katherine's talk on the medieval misericords of Great Malvern Priory can be found under Heritage & Faith lecture.
THE CREATION WINDOW ........one of the Priory's medieval treasures
has returned to Great Malvern Priory.
Having been cleaned and repaired, the conservation of the Creation Window has been carefully undertaken by York Glaziers Trust. The stone surrounding the window has been repaired and stabilised by a team of stonemasons from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation in readiness for the return of the medieval glass.
The return of the Creation Window was celebrated at The Friends' Choral Evensong on Sunday 25th June. You can hear Archdeacon Robert Jones' inspiring words on the Choral Evensong page of this website.
The last panel goes in.
The final fitting of the panel by the three glaziers from York Glaziers Trust.
A stonemason from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation repairing the stonework.
More work on the repairing the stone.
The delight to see the vibrant colours and details in the glass during our visit on 31st January
Before and after
Sarah Brown, Director of York Glaziers Trust with Mike and Anne Eglington
Documenting the panels and carefully measuring them to make sure that they fit back into the stonework
Photos thanks to York Glaziers Trust
(December 2022)
The York Glaziers Team
Nancy, Tony and Lydia
The panels are lifted out carefully one by one once the mortar around the window has been removed.
Dirt, corrosion and algae on the window.
Nancy on the scaffold
Students use the project as part of their media studies.
Students from the Heart of Worcester College visit the Priory to document the removal of the Creation Window.
We are delighted that they are able to take advantage of this project as part of their studies.
The Window panels start their journey to York
The Stonework
Since early March 2023, a team of master stonemasons from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation, have been repairing and stabilising the stonework around the window opening in readiness for the return of the medieval glass at the end of April.
Above: Detail from the Creation Window - God creates the world.
The English Medieval Glass in Great Malvern Priory is regarded as second only to York Minster and is a national treasure. The Friends has agreed to support the restoration of the first of these windows, the Creation Window in St. Anne's Chapel, as part of a larger Priory Development Plan. Do download a copy of the brochure and watch the video below.
The estimated total cost of conserving the glass. resinstalling it in an environmental protective frame, and repairing the surrounding stonework is c.£132,000.
Thanks to many generous donors, many of whom have wished to remain anonymous, together with grants from both the Headley Trust and the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, the cost of the project has been fully covered. The extra good news for Noah and his Ark is that c.£50,000 is being carried forward towards funding the cost of conserving a second window in due course.
We are delighted that the Chancellor has granted the faculty to allow the work to go ahead, after extensive consultation with Historic England, The Church Buildings Countil, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Diocesan Advisory Council.
York Glaziers Trust removed the glass in early November and are taking it to their studio in York for cleaning and repair. This painstaking work takes up to six months.
Once the risk of frost has passed, Sally Strachey Historic Conservation will spend around six weeks next Spring repairing the stonework around the window. York Glaziers will then bring the ancient glass back to Malvern in May 2023 to fit it back into St. Anne's Chapel, along with the environmental protective glazing.
A copy of the explanatory brochure is available to download below.
If you would like to join The Friends, please click to join here.
You can then keep in touch with progress on this project.
Photo (c) York Glaziers Trust 2016
St. Anne's Chapel Roof in 2023
The Friends funded the repair of St Anne's Chapel roof and it will now be watertight for many years to come. The Friends pledged £115,000 towards the costs together with generous grants from the Garfield Weston Foundation, Droitwich Preservation Trust and Worcester and Dudley Churches Historic Churches Trust.
