Over the last number months we have been working with the Kilmallock Vestry Group to organise the repair of the stained glass windows in St. Peter & St. Paul’s Church in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. The church itself was built in the 1940’s and was designed by Frederick G. Hicks in preferred style of red brick. The brick is a non – standard size and is smaller than most red brick used at the time.

The windows in the church are mild steel framed with an opening section on the bottom on two brass wheel hinges. Each window has four panels with the top being arched. Over the years the frames have seen much deterioration in the form of rust and this in turn has caused the glass and lead to bulge, crack and disintegrate in places. The windows were in a varied state of disrepair but all needed urgent attention.

After a successful tender process works to the window frames were carried out by traditional heritage blacksmith, Brendan St. John of St. John Forge and Iron Works (Drangan, Thurles, Co. Tipperary). He was appointed to carry out the repairs to the window frames which were to be sand blasted, repaired as necessary, galvanised, repainted and reinstalled. Galvanising the mild steel frames will add a much needed barrier against further rust problems in the future.

Repairs to the stained glass were carried out by Aidan Buckley of Limerick City. The glass was removed prior to the removal of the window frames. Each panel was removed carefully by hand and securely transported to Aidan’s workshop for repairs and re-leading using traditional methods.

After repair works were finished to both the window frames and stained glass panels, they were transported back to the church for installation. Each frame was installed back in their original opening prior to the stained glass panels being re-fitted to minimize risk of breakages. The window frames were given new fixings in the original positions and carefully rendered around the edges.