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When the sunlight streams through the east window, it is hard to disagree with what Fr Charles Eyre, assistant priest at St. Mary's, wrote in 1848:

'This magnificent window has been equalled by but few, if any, and surpassed by none.'

The window is eighteen feet wide and fills most of the east wall of the nave. It was originally intended to be smaller, but, as Pugin angrily pointed out in one of his letters to the church committee, it was increased in size at no expense to that committee.

Every other window in the church has sloping sides and a sloping sill; if the east window had been smaller there would have been space for these, but it appears that the size increase was to accommodate two additional lights (or window panels).

It is a Jesse window, that is, it shows the family-tree of Jesus as outlined in the beginning of Matthew's Gospel , where the genealogy of Jesus is traced in the pedigree of St Joseph. This conforms to the Jewish custom which did not trace ancestry in the female line.

The window was designed by Pugin and fabricated by William Wailes, who had premises in Bath Lane, Newcastle. It was installed in 1844. The monogram 'WW' and the date are visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the window.

The glass is only 2mm thick and is therefore prone to damage. At the beginning of the Second World War it was badly damaged by a bomb blast and the whole window was removed for safe keeping. After the war, the window was replaced and repaired with glass from other damaged windows in the Cathedral.