STAINED glass panels at Kipin Hall, once relegated to a damp outbuilding, have been cleaned and rehung following conservation work.

The panels were originally commission in the early 19th century by the 4th Earl of Tyrconnel and his wife, Sarah, for the bay window in their new Gothic-style drawing room.

They fell out of favour with a new owner of Kiplin, Admiral Walter Carpenter, who made substantial alterations to the drawing room to create a Jacobean-style library in the 1880s.

The five panels that had been removed from the window were discovered 100 years later in remarkably good condition.

The centre panel shows the coat of arms of the Carpenter family. This work is by the renowned stained glazier, Thomas Willement, whose mark appears below the Carpenter motto, per Acuta Belli – Through the Vicissitudes of War.

Either Willement or the earl must have acquired the four 18th century biblical stained glass windows which hang either side of the central panel.

They almost certainly came from a church that was being demolished or modernised.

They show Christ on the Road to Emmaeus and the Supper at Emmaeus to the left and Christ appearing to the Disciples in the Upper Room of the Holy City of Jerusalem to the right.

Administrator Marcia McLuckie was astonished when she first saw the windows back in their place: “I walked into the library and the sun was shining through the windows, really picking out the colours in the glass. They looked spectacular. Putting these stained glass windows back into the bay window has really added to the ambience of this lovely room.”

Kiplin Hall is open Sunday to Wednesday until October 28, from 2-5pm (gardens and tea room open at 10am). For information, email info@kiplinhall.co.uk.