A BOOK celebrating the stained glass windows of stained glass artist-craftsman, A J Davies (1877-1953) - who created many windows in Herefordshire - contains 50 colour photographs illustrating the range of his work.

Davies was educated in Birmingham and trained at the Birmingham School of Art, in the Arts and Crafts style, where he won many prizes as a student.

In 1906 he established a stained glass studio in the premises of the Bromsgrove Guild in Worcestershire, where he worked until his death in 1953.

Author Roy Albutt discusses the style, studio personnel, commissions and patronage of this prolific stained glass artist.

A gazetteer gives details of 240 windows by Davies widely distributed in Britain, 21 of which are in Herefordshire.

The book contains images of windows at 10 locations around the county, including Hereford Cathedral - where he made two four-light windows for the Stanbury Chapel, How Caple, Aston Ingham and Goodrich.

There is a cluster of six village churches within a radius of fifteen miles of Hereford Cathedral with windows by the Davies studio, which have a total of 17 Davies windows between them - eight installed in the 1920s.

The popularity of his style meant that often the same designs crop up in more than one place.

A three-light Adoration of the Magi window of 1923 at Aston Ingham was repeated as a two-light window at nearby Kentchurch five years later.

Similarly the design of the Virgin and Child lancet window of 1925 at Canon Pyon was reused in 1928 at Kentchurch.

Copies of The Stained Glass Windows of AJ Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild are available on 01386 552127 at £16.95