Norwich Cathedral has commissioned several new stained glass windows, most recently the millennium windows in the north Transept.
The millennium north Transept windows
The six windows of the upper levels of the north elevation are designed to be read as a whole even though they are of two different dates and by two different artists.
When Lord Palumbo funded the re-ordering of the City of London Church, St Stephen Walbrook, in the 1970s, post-war stained glass windows by Keith New were removed and replaced by clear glazing. The displaced glass, of high quality, was stored in the London Stained Glass Repository maintained by the Glaziers' Company. In 1995 one of these displaced windows, depicting the Conversion of St Paul, was acquired by the Dean and Chapter and inserted in the centre light of the top tier of openings in the north elevation of the north transept.
In 1999, Mr Geoffrey Shephard approached the Dean and Chapter with a generous offer to fund a Millennium window. The commission went to John Hayward who was asked to take account of the Keith New panel in designing his own. Most of the glass for the lights flanking the Conversion of St Paul is from a large window originally by Keith New, removed from the Repository. The entire window was dismantled into fragments which John Hayward rearranged and releaded to his own abstract designs. The paler tints are new glass. Hayward designed the lower tier of three windows, most of which is new glass with a scattering of old blue glass to unify it with the top range. All six windows are now intended to be viewed as a single composition.
The central panel of John Hayward's triptych shows the Blessed Virgin Mary enthroned as Seat of Wisdom (a Byzantine iconographic form) with her Son, the Wisdom of God incarnate, seated in her lap. He is shown as much older than his years, his right hand raised in blessing, his left hand holding an orb.
The two vertical, parallel lines at the top of the panel are designed to link in with the Keith New panel above.