On Tuesday 24 June, York Minster will mark the 100th anniversary of the rededication of the Five Sisters Window as a memorial to women who died in the First World War.
The Five Sisters Window is a storied but often overlooked artwork; its grisaille glass makes it strikingly different to other windows in York Minster. Completed around 1250, the window is made up of five lancets, each over 16 metres high and 1.5 metres wide.
The rededication as a war memorial was the vision of two inspirational women: Helen Little and Almyra Gray. Together, they established Britain’s first and only national memorial to women of the First World War.
This centenary will be celebrated with a special service of Evensong attended by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, the Lord Mayor of York, the Sheriff of York, and the Archbishop of York.
The service will take place in the cathedral's Quire and will include a sermon from The Right Reverend Flora Winfield, Bishop of Selby. For 17 years, Bishop Flora was the Chaplain to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, which was a decorated female unit in WW1. After the sermon, the congregation will process to the North Transept, where The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York, will lead an Act of Commitment beneath the Five Sisters Window.
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