Restored windows strengthen historic church to withstand the winds of time

By Catherine Sheehan

Seven stained glass windows at St Paul’s church in Oatlands were recently restored, giving the 170-year-old church a new lease of life, and reinforcing it to withstand the fierce Midlands weather.

Chairperson and Secretary of the Parish Committee, Kerry Lee, said parishioners were pleased with the result of the restoration work.

“We’re pretty happy with the windows… and we’re told they’ll last another hundred years,” Mr Lee said.

In desperate need of conservation, Mr Lee said the windows had previously been “rattling in the high velocity Midlands winds”, and rain had been coming through the windows and running down the walls.

Earlier this year each of the seven Lancet windows were carefully removed and taken to the Hobart workshop of stained-glass conservator, Gavin Merrington. ‘Lancet’ refers to the spear-headed shape of the windows.

Each window was taken apart, cleaned, repaired, and then reassembled according to its original design.

“We all waited with bated breath, really, to find out what the difference would be,” Mr Lee said. “They don’t rattle in the wind because they’ve been reinforced, as they would’ve originally been.”

There had been much “celebration and thanks-giving” as the last of the windows were recently reinstalled, he said.

The project had been funded by the generous bequest of parishioner, the late Colonel Nellie-Jane Espie, known simply as Nell. Several generations of Nell’s family have attended St Paul’s church.

Parish Priest, Fr Sunil De Silva, said he appreciated the work of all those involved in the restoration, which served to edify and beautify the place where people “come together to praise and worship, and to magnify God’s holy name”.

“It is so important to repair and maintain St Paul’s Church at Oatlands, which is so beautiful and valuable, the place where the congregation come together every week to worship the Lord in peace,” Fr De Silva said.

Built in 1850, St Paul’s is one of only two churches in Tasmania designed by nineteenth century English architect, Augustus Pugin, the other being St Patrick’s church in Colebrook. St John’s in Richmond, although not originally designed by Pugin, was later extended according to a Pugin design.

The restoration of St Paul’s windows is part of on-going conservation work on the 170-year-old church, Mr Lee said. Other projects in the pipeline include restoration of the Pugin designed rood screen, repointing some of the stonework, and restoring the bell which had been cast at Port Arthur.

Fr De Silva said Pugin would have been delighted by the restoration work carried out so far on St Paul’s, and that the people of Tasmania were blessed to have a place of such history, beauty, and architectural significance.