Lantern of the West: The Stained Glass Windows of Bath Abbey

A display at Bath Abbey tracing the history of its famous stained glass windows, ahead of a new Saint Alphege window.

This exhibition celebrates Bath Abbey's windows, which cover around 80% of the building's wall space and earned it the nickname 'Lantern of the West'. It charts their history from the 1500s to the current designs by stained glass artist Neil Ireson, and marks the Abbey's plan to install a new window honouring Bath-born Saint Alphege in winter 2026. The display includes archaeological glass finds, fragments from windows blown out during the 1942 air-raids, and examples of the modern glass intended for the new window, helping visitors identify the work of the Abbey's main window designers.