In 2024 Barnard Castle celebrated 550 years since the lordship of the town was granted to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. The Windows for the King installation of seven etched glass windows in the inner porch of St Mary's marks this anniversary.

On 6th November 2024, Dr Fiona Hill, Chancellor of Durham University and former Security Advisor to the White House, unveiled ‘Windows for the King’, a spectacular design of etched, engraved, gilded and bonded glass, commemorating the College of Richard Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Richard invested the equivalent of millions in St Mary’s church in the 1470s/80s to create a Collegiate Church with a Dean, twelve priests and sixteen choristers, which would serve the town and people not only with daily worship but with song and grammar schools.

Between 2022-2024 the local Northern Dales Richard III Group, in collaboration with St Mary’s, raised money to bring to life the Partnership Group’s detailed brief. The windows’ focus are the saints to whom Richard intended to dedicate his College: Christ with the Virgin Mary, St Ninian of Galloway and St Margaret of Scotland. Also included are St Helen and St Catherine, two saints that had medieval chantries in the town, and Richard’s famous boar badge. Windows for the King is a lasting tribute to Richard’s personal faith, and demonstrate his dedication to the North and to the town where he was Lord of the Manor from 1474.

The above text is abridged from the Church’s website. More images and information about the individual saints and stories can be seen here: Windows for the King | St Mary's Barnard Castle