WORCESTER Cathedral has received a cash boost of almost £400,000 to repair an eye-catching 19th century stained glass window.

The grant of £390,000 from the First World War Centenary Fund will pay for the restoration of the Great West Window, one of a series of windows designed and installed by John Hardman and Co. of Birmingham between 1854 and 1875.

The Dean of Worcester, the Very Reverend Peter Atkinson, said: “The stained glass windows are a significant element of the Victorian restoration of the Cathedral, and the Great West Window is particularly special.

"It is in need of serious and careful repair so we’re delighted to have been awarded this money to restore it to its former glory for many more generations to enjoy.”

The window was the gift of the Earl of Dudley and depicts the story of the Creation and is counterbalanced by the Great East Window, also by Hardman, which depicts the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

This is not the first time the cathedral has received grants from the First World War Centenary Fund.

Last year it received three grants totalling £447,000, which were used to complete repairs to the library ceiling, repairs to the west slype roof and the restoration of the Great East Window.

The latest grant is one of 39 totalling £14.5 million given as part of the second phase of grants awarded by the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund.

Sir Paul Ruddock, chair of the panel which assesses the grant applications, said: “In 2014 the Chancellor announced the first £20 million phase of the fund, intended to get our wonderful heritage of Cathedral buildings waterproof and weathertight, safe and open and in good shape for the commemorations of the First World War Centenary in which they are playing such a key part.

"I and all those who love these great buildings were delighted when he announced a further £20 million for the fund in the March 2016 budget.

"It will now run until 2018 and the works it will have supported between 2014 and 2018 will stand as a very fitting memorial to the First World War a century earlier.”