Lancaster Stained Glass

Founded in 1994, the Leadbitter Glass Studio has been supplying Overlay Stained Glass panels to homes and businesses across Lancaster ever since, delivering to every other part of the UK too. Lancaster Priory’s east window was designed by the architect Edward Paley and made by William Wailes, and the Priory grounds are also home to Shrigley and Hunt, a stained glass firm whose work has been supplied to churches across the country.

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 Lancaster.

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 Lancaster. We also produce other styles of Decorative Glass for Lancaster clients, including Bevelled Glass, Etched Glass, and Fused Glass.

See your glass before we create it!

Colour On Screen Before Colour On Glass

Every Lancaster order comes with a private Client Page, where a full-colour drawing of your panel, built to scale, appears a few days after you order. If a shade needs deepening, or a motif making bolder, just tell us — we’ll amend it and send it back, and keep going for as long as it takes. We only begin manufacturing once you’ve confirmed you’re happy with what you see.

Image above created using Minster Glass.

Where Overlay Stained Glass Improves On The Original

Traditional leaded glass is built from dozens of small individual pieces held together by strips of soft lead — which is exactly why it’s prone to cracking and letting the weather in over time. Our Overlay Stained Glass takes a different route: both the leadwork and the colour are applied directly onto one continuous 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 Lancaster and the rest of the UK.

Durability matters as much to us as design, which is why every panel is manufactured using toughened or laminated safety glass from the outset.

Plenty of homeowners have a story about traditional leaded glass costing a small fortune, only for individual pieces to crack within weeks. Overlay Stained Glass was designed specifically to avoid that.

Our process

We hand-shape lead strips onto the toughened glass first, tracing an outline of your chosen design with no colour applied yet. Once that’s complete, the glass is turned over and coloured piece by piece, each section held within its own leaded boundary.

Matching lead lines are then added to the reverse to mirror the front exactly, giving you a panel that’s 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster area…