Bill Pardoe Stained Glass Artist

	Bill's Lecture - Brierley Hill
Home Introduction Introduction Bill's Lecture Early Days (Lagos, Oldbury,Langley) Lye & Stambermill Oldswinford & Stourbridge Brierley Hill Cradley Heath, Cradley & Dudley Wollescote & Kinver Additional Material Designs Other Works Bill at Work Summary	At Brierley Hill Church are two windows on either side of the West doors and these were painted by one of Samuel Evans artists. He was Thomas Smith – a deaf mute and known to all as ‘Dummy Smith’. Not being able to speak or hear he was able to exert deep concentration upon his work.

	Those were the days when enamel painted glass panels used to abound in the halls and vestibules of Victorian homes and in the painting of these, Dummy Smith was the pre-eminent master, as this picture of Dovedale shows. It was related to me that this picture was painted upon an odd piece of roofing glass and shows remarkable technique and skill. You must remember that when the enamel paint is laid on the glass it is very dark – almost black – until fired in the kiln when it appears in all rich and glowing colours. See the fine detail in the fisherman’s net. The actual size of this figure would not be much larger than a postage stamp. In the main entrance to the offices of Samuel Evans works were some very fine painted panels by this same great master and prior to the demolition of the works I paid a visit to renew my acquaintance with the centre picture which I had not seen for over fifty years. They were still there in all their glory and the same panel ought to have been removed to the Birmingham Art Gallery as the finest example ever of this particular branch of art. I can only hope that it has been carefully removed by someone who will care for the treasure that it is. The other windows at Brierley Hill are painted with the warm brown tones and shadows much loved by Victorian glass painters and very much in vogue in those days. The first war window was the work of Thomas Stokes before I knew him and from whom I subsequently acquired a considerable knowledge of the art. The church (of St Luke) in Wellington Road was demolished this year, having suffered like many others from the decline in church-going. It had a very fine East window and a long West window. It was a very tall building and the East window over the alter was high up near to the roof, nearly forty feet, with the subjects of the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. One day the Rev. Ron Crisp of Dudley Wood church invited me to meet him there to look at this window. He asked me ‘How about taking it out and making it to fit the West window at my church, because they will give it to me if I want it’. It seemed quite a formidable task to me owing to its great height and size but I saw it as a challenge and eventually I removed it, altered it and installed it in St John’s at Dudley Wood, entirely single handed. This nearly ninety years old glass would probably have suffered the same fate as thousands of others under the demolition men’s hammers if the Rev. Ron Crisp had not first begged the window and then begged me to do the work for him.
	St John’s Church, Dudley Wood Window made by Bill Pardoe for St Luke’s Church, Dudley and removed by him to this location
	In the old and now demolished Methodist Church of Bank Street, Brierley Hill, every window was filled with stained glass. It must have caused some heartache to families who had given them, often at great expense, to know that they could not be used in the new church which was to be built. As the parson said, ‘What is the point of putting up a new building and then putting back all the stained glass in it. It would look just the same as the old one’. One can understand people’s feelings and this must have happened to many thousands of windows in the Midlands where redundant churches have been demolished. Most of their windows have now gone forever. Windows at Bank Street prior to demolition. (Chancel and end – Wesley - Pot Boiler – Saviour in the Temple – The Risen Lord).