Pugin After Dark Festival 2026 - Exhibition

It’s hard to know where to start, as wow, what a wonderful weekend our first ever Pugin After Dark Festival has been! Going into it we didn’t know who would come along (if anyone), but Pugin fans turned up in their droves from as far as London, Bath, Wales and Liverpool and, of course, many from the Staffordshire Moorlands and neighbouring counties. It was great to also see some familiar faces from our time at Pugin Week in Ramsgate last year too, with Joe topping the list of Pugin super fans with his fantastic Pugin themed tattoos.

One of Joe's fantastic AWN Pugin tattoos

Exhibition attendees

AWN Pugin effigy & portrait

The Festival kicked off with the Pugin Exhibition at Alton Village Hall, with a wide variety of exhibitors and exhibits. Cheadle Discovery Group brought a fantastic display on Pugin's work in both Australia and a bit closer to home, St Giles at Cheadle. Local artist Ruby Nixon debuted her ongoing Mapping Myths project and not only shared local stories but also gathered them from attendees. Martin Renshaw of Pipe for Pipe Organs brought along copies of his fabulous book, ABC of a Medieval Church, as well as providing information on the charities new Sleeping Beauty campaign.

Ruby Nixon's Mapping Myths

Cheadle Discovery Group's display

Martin Renshaw of Pipe Up for Pipe Organs

Local artist Lois Scragg exhibited her beautiful watercolour paintings that featured the stained glass windows of St Giles, and Lyn Cyples brought along her range of Alton and Pugin themed pottery. Lifelong Altonian and Chair of Alton Parish Council, Jonathan Sheperd, also kindly shared his vast collection of local maps and other historic records as well as his knowledge of the village.

AWN Pugin pottery by Lynn Cyples

Johnathan Shepard shares his local knowledge

AWN Pugin inspired watercolours by Lois Scragg

Guests were also encouraged to get creative and explore the wonderful work of Stoke on Trent Urban Sketches and Mandee of AS Stained Glass showed off her restoration and stained glass artistry as well as showcasing previous building recording projects, including the recording of Pugin's tiles at the Houses of Parliament. Mandee also offers classes to anyone who would like to try their hand at stained glass, details of which can be found here.

Urban Sketchers Stoke on Trent

Mandee of AS Stained Glass

Urban Sketchers Stoke on Trent

We at Pugin After Dark also had a great range of exhibits, including the Pugin effigy and our mascot, kindly loaned to us by Alton Towers for the weekend. As well as our Alton Towers restoration display, Johnnie displayed a selection of his impressive personal archive and shared his existence knowledge with visitors. Lee and Louie showcased their photography skills with a range of Pugin themed prints and cards for sale plus our wonderful volunteer, Annie encouraged visitors to sit and colour in a Pugin tile or two as part of our ongoing Pugin Tile Project which you can take part in yourself here.

Visitors looking through Johnnies extensive archive

Louie & our Alton Towers restoration display

Annie colouring tiles with guests

We also launched Pugin’s Ghosts, where visitors could listen to three spooky tales from Pugin’s past, present and future. These videos were inspired by our incredibly popular Christmas storytelling event, where the tales originally debuted along with other local myths and legends. The first of the three videos, Pugin’s Ghosts of the Past, is already available to watch on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCueANhoMlsSf9K-jJ0DhW7g

Please do subscribe to our channel for updates and to see parts two and three of this series.

Ghost Story corner

Pugin's Ghosts

Pugin's Ghosts

Attendees were kept well refreshed with plentiful tea, coffee and cake kindly put on by the Alton bellringers who also had a display on tower bell ringing plus visitors could also treat themselves to a bottle of Pugin’s Gold from Peakstones Rock Brewery as a souvenir of the day.

Event manager Kevin & Councillor Nigel Moult

Alton Bellringers

Pugin's Gold by Peakstones Rock Brewery

Thank you to everyone who took part and exhibited on the day and to everyone that came along. Massive thank you to our volunteers, Annie and Councillor Nigel Moult. Special thanks also goes to Kevin for managing the event and making sure it all ran smoothly, as well as the rest of the Pugin After Dark team for all their hard work: Sue, Lee, Johnnie, and Louie.

A massive thank you to Outside who have generously awarded us a Creative Community Commission last year, taking our idea of creating a festival from a dream to a reality - we couldn't have done this without you.​ A big thank you also to Alton Community Events who will also kindly supported the festival.

To be the first to hear about future events, project and plans please join the Pugin After Dark please mailing list via out contact us page here.