Stained glass theft reaches record levels

A recent article in The Telegraph by Yohannes Lowe (HERE) highlighted a sharp rise in the theft of historical artefacts from churches, with stained glass windows being stolen by organised gangs to sell on the black market.

Figures from the Church Conservation Trust (CCT) revealed that 2018 saw the highest number of recorded incidents wince their records began in 1999.

A fundamental part of any photographic work has to be ethical responsibilities of the photographer.  Having catalogued and detailed all of Oxford’s chapels as well as many of its finest examples of stained glass, I wonder the appropriateness of publishing a book that would prove invaluable to those for whom theft-to-order from chapels and churches routine.

Most of the Oxford chapels are in secure locations and all are within an urban area well patrolled by police with relatively low crime figures.  Here there has been no recent history of crimes targeting churches, so I am confident that my book will not prove a threat to the very thing I hope to help popularise.