Chichester Stained Glass

Founded in 1994, the Leadbitter Glass Studio has been supplying Overlay Stained Glass panels to homes and businesses across Chichester ever since, delivering to every other part of the UK too. Chichester Cathedral holds one of only two stained glass windows by Marc Chagall anywhere in Britain, unveiled in 1978 and inspired by Psalm 150, its dominant red a genuine rarity in a career largely defined by blue.

Every panel is designed and manufactured in our own Decorative Glass Studio — either from your own photo or idea, or from one of the hundreds of patterns in our gallery. Our Overlay Stained Glass comes as either toughened single glazing or a resilient double-glazed unit, and suits a front door, a landing window, or any other glazed opening in the home equally well. The great majority of orders qualify for free delivery across Chichester.

We’ve supplied Overlay Stained Glass for a Prime Minister’s home, for Hollywood film sets, and for well-known musicians and billionaires — though the vast majority of what we make is still for homeowners across Chichester. We also produce other styles of Decorative Glass for Chichester clients, including Bevelled Glass, Etched Glass, and Fused Glass.

See your glass before we create it!

A One-Off Design, Shown To You First

Every Chichester order comes with a private Client Page, where a full-colour, to-scale drawing of your design appears a few days after you order. If a colour needs deepening or a motif needs enlarging, tell us and we’ll amend it — as many times as it takes. We only begin manufacturing once you’ve confirmed you’re happy with the finished design.

Image above created using Minster Glass.

Colour Built To Last

Traditional leaded glass is a mosaic of small pieces held together by soft lead, which is exactly why it’s prone to draughts and cracking as it ages. Our Overlay Stained Glass avoids that entirely by applying both the leadwork and the colour directly onto a single sheet of toughened safety glass, with no lattice of separate pieces to work loose.

Pilkington K Glass is also available on request, and is required by current building regulations for new window and door installations across Chichester and the rest of the UK.

Every panel is manufactured using toughened or laminated safety glass, since durability matters to us as much as the artistry involved.

Plenty of homeowners have a story about spending good money on traditional leaded glass, only for individual pieces to crack within weeks of fitting. Our Overlay Stained Glass was designed specifically to avoid that.

Our process

We hand-shape lead strips onto the toughened glass first, tracing an uncoloured outline of your chosen design. Once complete, the glass is turned over and the colourwork begins, with each piece painted individually inside its own leaded boundary.

Matching lead lines are then added to the back to mirror the front exactly, so the finished panel is leaded and coloured on both faces, not just the one you see first.

A choice of lead finishes is available too — see our Leaded Glass page for the full range.

Ready to have Overlay Stained Glass, or any other decorative glass, made for your Chichester home or business? Get in touch today for an accurate quote and turnaround time.

Browse Our Leaded Glass Galleries

Our website holds one of the largest collections of decorative glass patterns anywhere. Browse hundreds of Leaded Glass designs in our main gallery, arranged by theme and by door style, to find the right pattern — or simply for inspiration towards your own. Visit the Main Gallery to see what’s possible.

Notable Stained Glass Commissions from the Chichester area…