Cadder's Stained Glass Windows

Cadder has some wonderful stained glass including work by some of Scotland's most notable artists in the medium. There are ten windows which are described and illustrated below in the order in which they were installed. I have chosen to illustrate the windows using details rather than images of the whole window, the descriptions are numbered and the images bear the number which relates to the appropriate text. Click on each window to see a large version of the picture.

Becoming familiar with these windows over the time I have been in Cadder has been an enormous and faith-enhancing privilege. I love them, I hope you will too.

Graham Finch

1 Alice Holden Gardner Memorial Window

Alice Holden Gardner was the daughter of the family at Cawder House who died at the age of seven and a half and is buried in the churchyard. The theme of the window is 'Let the children come to me' and it was made by Ballantyne and Gardner, Edinburgh and installed on 10th May 1891 on the east wall of the church. There are lots of lovely details - some of the children are carrying posies, and one of the mothers has amazing earrings with a swan and stars.

14 years after it was installed, this window was dismantled and replaced when the chancel was added to the church. The six panels at the top date from this time and were not part of the original window, they may well be by a different artist.

2 & 3 James Noble Memorial Windows

These two small windows were installed in 1896 high on either side of the east wall. They also are by Ballantyne and Gardner and commemorate James Noble, schoolmaster at Cadder School from 1841, when he was 24, till 1890, when he was 73. He was also Session Clerk of the congregation.

The window above the vestry door features Enoch who 'walked with God,' we read of him in Genesis and also in Hebrews 11 which is the reference given on the window.

The other window shows Simeon, the old man who took the infant Jesus in his arms when Mary brought him to the Temple and prayed 'Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace' (often called the Nunc Dimittis). For someone who had spent 53 years as Session Clerk and schoolmaster, that's a very understandable sentiment! The top of the window has a heart with the sword through it, a reminder of Simeon's prophecy to Mary 'and a sword shall pierce your heart also.'

4 Thomas Warren Memorial Window

This was the first window to be done on the South wall, it was installed in 1908 at the time of the installation of the chancel and commemorates a father and two small sons from the same family, Thomas Warren of Cleddens who died aged 55 and his sons Thomas and Hamish both of whom died age 3. The donor was Caroline Warren, wife of Thomas and mother of the two boys.

The left hand panel shows David mourning for his son with the words 'I shall go to him but he shall not return to me' and the right, Jesus with the promise 'In my Father's house are many mansions.'

The artist is known but the style is not dissimilar to the other Ballantyne and Gardner windows.

5 James Watt Memorial Window

This window was installed 25th October 1914 at the east end of the south wall with the theme 'Faith, Hope and Charity'. It was designed by the outstanding Scottish stained glass artist, Alf Webster. Great stained glass artists are skilled in draughtsmanship and the technical aspects of working in glass, they also possess a deep knowledge of religious symbolism and a creative imagination. Webster scores equally highly in all of these areas. Here we see Faith on the left, treasuring the light, Hope on the right, in chains but looking upward and Charity at the top represented by the Madonna and child. The detail in this window is worth careful study. It was installed by the parishioners of Cadder in memory of Rev James Watt, minister from 1882 - 1911 a time of significant developments in the congregation's life, and few ministers receive such a wonderful memorial.

6 Marion Bell Window

This window, opposite the James Watt window at the east end of the north wall and installed on the same date, is also an Alf Webster design on the theme of Prayer and Praise. There is a similar window in New Kilpatrick Church in Bearsden, that window has an image of New Kilpatrick Church, ours has an image of Cadder. The window contains a quote from Psalm 122 - 'I was glad when they said to me let us go up to the house of the Lord' The angels in this and the opposite window are wonderful.

This window was given by Sir Hugh Reid, owner of the Hyde Park Locomotive Works, Springburn, in memory of his wife, Marion. Sir Hugh also gave the neighbouring window and the carved frontage of the gallery.

Not long after completing these windows, Alf Webster enlisted to fight in the First World War and was killed in Flanders in 1915. The centenary of his death is approaching and we hope to mark it with some kind of pilgrimage trail.

7 War Memorial Window, South

This window on the south wall was given by the congregation in memory of 38 members and adherents who died in the First World War; it was dedicated on the 20th March 1921. It and its partner opposite were designed in the Stephen Adam studios where Alf Webster had worked and it is easy to imagine that those who worked on it were thinking about the loss of their former colleague.

The theme of this window is 'Sacrifice' and the story depicted is Abraham about to sacrifice his son Isaac when God intervenes and provides a ram instead. The lower panels also show some of the devastation of war, including the first use of tanks.

8 War Memorial Window, North

This window is another gift from Sir Hugh Reid in memory of his son and of all the young men of Auchinairn and Springburn killed in the First World War. It was installed on the north wall at the same time as the one opposite. The theme here is 'The Supreme Sacrifice' with the top panels showing the Crucifixion with the disciple John, Jesus's mother, Mary and the other faithful women looking on. The lower panels Jesus calling his disciples to sacrifice and service. Again we see scenes from the war in the bottom panels.

9 Robert Findlay Memorial Window

Robert Findlay was a farmer at Easter Cadder and Session Clerk from 1935 - 45. He died in 1961 and this window was installed after that in the North West corner of the church, under the gallery. The designer was Sadie McLellan who taught stained glass at Glasgow School of Art.

As befits a memorial to a farmer, the panels show seed-time on the left with a female sower and harvest on the right with a male reaper. There are raindrops on the left to help the seed to germinate and sunshine on the right to ripen the grain and the text from the book of Genesis is the promise that was given to Noah after the flood that seed-time and harvest shall not fail. The symbol of that promise was the rainbow but interestingly there is no rainbow in the window. But there is a butterfly! The open hands at the top are the generous hands of God, the giver of the harvest.

10 Millennium Window

This window on the south wall was dedicated on 1st April 2001 and designed and made by Crear McCartney, a pupil of Sadie McLellan who did the harvest window. The window celebrates three millennia of the Christian era and focuses on the Trinity. The upper circle represents Christ. The cross is formed by the dark glass and the stone mullion and the circle contains the symbols of the gospel writers, Matthew (Angel), Mark (Lion), Luke (Bull) and John (Eagle). The lower left circle represents God the Father and uses the symbol of the burning bush from Exodus with the Church of Scotland motto 'And yet it was not consumed.' The dove in the lower right circle represents the Holy Spirit, the Church's inspiration. The words Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever' are from Hebrews 13:8.

Bequests from Miss Margaret McLean and Miss Kathleen Bowie funded this window

11 Thomas Muir Memorial Window

Yes I know I said there were ten! This window has yet to be designed and yet to be funded but our hope is that a new window will be in place by 2015, the 250th anniversary of the birth of 'The Father of Scottish Democracy', an elder at Cadder who is already commemorated by the Martyr's Monument on Calton Hill in Edinburgh.

Since Graham wrote this article the beautiful Thomas Muir Window has indeed been installed and pictures of it can be found on our Gallery page.