A stained glass window depicting St Henry of Bavaria (left) and Henry VIII, courtesy of National Trust Images

TRANSPARENT CASE Rare Tudor stained glass that survived Cromwell’s armies during the Civil War and the bombing raids of World War II is under attack from a new enemy.

The precious 500-year-old stained glass, from the chapel windows of 16th-century country house The Vyne in Hampshire, is showing signs of pitting and corrosion, caused by condensation.

This summer, the National Trust will take on its most ambitious stained glass project ever – to remove 17 of the chapel’s 18 windows so that they can be cleaned and re-fitted with state-of-theart protective glazing.

The stained glass scenes to be removed include an image of a young King Henry VIII who visited The Vyne several times with both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.A second scene depicts Catherine of Aragon, and a third his sister Margaret, who married James IV of Scotland when she was just 13 years old.

The glass is considered to be amongst the most beautiful and exceptional 16th-century glass in Europe. Famous for its jewel-like clarity and superb draughtsmanship, it is un-matched in England, and the finest example of Tudor glass in the National Trust’s care.

A exhibition will run in parallel to the work, giving visitors a unique opportunity to follow the process as it progresses.

The Vyne, outside Sherborne St John near Basingstoke was built for Lord Sandys, King Henry VIII’s Lord Chamberlain. In the mid-18th century it was owned by Horace Walpole’s friend John Chaloner Chute, who designed the Palladian staircase. For further information visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/vyne or call 01256 883858.

RECORD PRICE Pictures by the Suffolk artist Thomas Churchyard (1798-1865), as reported in last month’s magazine Out of the Shadows, sailed past their estimates including what may be a record for the artist.

Durrants’ fine art sale on June 12 included 60 paintings from the Sally Kibble Collection – predominantly watercolours of local scenes including Woodbridge, Lowestoft,Aldeburgh, and Southwold.

The star lot of the day was the watercolour Gun Hill, Southwold, (5¾in x 8½in) which sold for £6,500 hammer – believed to be a world record price for a Churchyard watercolour. Its estimate was £350 to £450.

Durrants’ Rebecca Mayhew said: “The Southwold pictures stole the show. Competition was fierce throughout the sale – a private collection like the one offered is rare to find.”

Sally Kibble who died in 2009, aged 54, was fascinated by Churchyard and in 1998 started to amass what became the largest private collection of Churchyard paintings and drawings.

Gun Hill, Southwold, (5¾in x 8½in) which sold for £6,500 hammer

GO BROWN TO GO GREEN A new (made in China) chest of drawers has a carbon footprint 16 times higher than its antique equivalent, according to research by the International Antiques and Collectors’ Fairs (IACF).

The study highlighted the lower carbon footprint of antiques compared to that of their modern-day equivalent. Results showed that an antique chest of drawers has an annual carbon footprint of 0.72kg CO2e, compared to 11.36kg CO2e per year for the brand-new chest of drawers.

Other statistics revealed included £4.6bn worth of furniture was imported in 2013 (32 percent of which came from China) while 10m items of furniture get thrown away in the UK each year.

Love Antiques’ Will Thomas said: “As an industry we need to get together and reach out to young green-minded people who have never thought of buying antiques.We need to get the message across that antiques don’t depreciate like high-street furniture. So when you no longer love an item you can sell it at the original price or at a profit, and it won’t end up in a skip or landfill site.”

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READERS’ NOTICEBOARD My husband has been a subscriber of Antique Collecting magazine for many years. Sadly, he is no longer able to enjoy reading and I have let his subscription lapse. He has, however, a complete run of AC from volume 14 through volume 45 (missing only vol 15:1), plus three magazines for 1973, 1974 - and most of volumes 46-49. Anyone interested in the editions can contact me via the magazine at magazine@antique-collecting.co.uk. It is a lovely magazine but I no longer have the space to store such a quantity. Carol Varlaam, London.