New windows designed by an award-winning artist are set to be installed above the porch doors of a Barnard Castle church.
The artwork - created by Rachel Phillips - will be unveiled at St. Mary’s Parish Church on November 6, as part of the church council’s ‘Windows for the King’ project.
Stunning design art for the windows show the Virgin and Christ child flanked by saints associated with the church, which have been portrayed in realistic form.
The council created a partnership with local history group The Northern Dales Richard III Group for the project, which oversaw the design competition and raised the £40,000 funds.
The window’s outer panels include Richard’s white boar.
The ceremony will take place at 1.30pm, with the Chancellor of Durham University and former White House Advisor Dr Fiona Hill unveiling the window.
The funds were also raised to mark the 550th anniversary of Richard III becoming Lord of Barnard Castle.
Richard’s Lordship saw him invest huge sums of money into the parish church with the intention of it becoming a collegiate church (with 12 priests) to serve the town and wider area.
The College was to be dedicated to the Virgin and Child, St Ninian and St. Margaret of Scotland - with a chantry in the church also dedicated to St Catherine and a nearby chapel dedicated to St Helen.
Research conducted during the Covid pandemic overturned the previously-held view that the college was to be based within the castle itself and made greater sense of the existing Ricardian features in the church: a chancel arch bearing his effigy and a 15th-century window adorned with his ‘white boar’ sigil.
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All the saints (Ninian, Margaret of Scotland, Helen and Catherine) have been portrayed in realistic form with care taken to ensure that they are of the appropriate ethnicity and age.
Each of the saints are associated with the town or college and speak to modern concerns (the relief of poverty, education, pilgrimage, freedom and the dignity of women).
The Virgin and Child are portrayed as of Iraqi Jewish descent, with Mary purposely not veiled as she presents Christ the King to the world.
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