No reprieve for abbey's faded Pugin window

A Victorian church window designed by the architect Augustus Pugin is to be replaced by a modern version after a church court quashed an appeal to save it. The 1851 window at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset, has been at the centre of a six-year row between the abbey's vicar, the Rev Eric Woods, and the Victorian Society.

Mr Woods had pressed for the window's replacement after a schoolboy said the faded faces of its Old Testament figures reminded him of the television character Mr Blobby. The society argued the window was of artistic merit and should remain in the church.

The Court of the Arches agreed, however, that the window was too "badly worn" and "botched up" to save, and upheld a ruling made last July allowing it to be replaced by a new window by John Hayward.

The Victorian Society is now considering whether to take its appeal to the Privy Council.