In response to Rev. Insley’s request for information in 1987, Winchester historians stated the glass shards “from Winchester” could not have come from the cathedral, as its windows had been boarded up and survived intact through the War.
They suggested, as a possible source of the Winchester glass – those “unmatching fragments” had come from a trove of French glass fragments discovered in 1936 buried at nearby Salisbury Cathedral. This trove, determined to be of 14th- and 15th-century French origin, was being used for windows in a local chapel in the post-war period – at the time of Rev. Appleyard’s request.
The ‘Winchester’ fragments are located in the bottom left-hand corner of Window 3 (but not the grey-scale head which is from Southampton)… perhaps the fleur de lis and helmeted knight figures are the well-travelled ‘booty’ of historical conquests.
