On Sunday I was passing St Albans and noticed the door open. Seeing a chance of a look inside I went in and found many people and an offer of coffee and cake! Two new stained glass windows commemorating the Hartley Pit Disaster has been dedicated the previous day by the Bishop of Newcastle and the church was open for the weekend so people could view them. They are above the balcony of the church and are very modern in design. This site shows the new windows http://stalbansearsdon.org.uk/ One is a darkish window showing a pit shaft and a black hillside dotted with tiny white crosses, one for each of the dead pitmen. The other has a resurrection theme and shows a large glowing sun at the top, even on the miserable grey day, it shone out like a bright disc.. I've never been inside this church before, I only know it from the countless times I've searched the parish registers. As the registers run from 1589, I was struck by how "modern" it looked inside. The present church is the 3rd on the site apparently, built about 1838. I was also shown the 2 large stained glass windows near the front of the church, originally from Hampton Court Palace. By way of Tynemouth Priory and Seaton Delaval they had ended up in St Albans, they show the Kings Coats of Arms. I liked the tale of the lions paws ending on the other animals feet and vice versa. They had been reversed, back to their proper positions in the 1950's . Gen in NBL England