Stained glass windows, which help to document the lives of men who fought for their country in the First World War, have been donated to St Albans Museums Service after being found on eBay.

An anonymous donor saw the memorial windows for sale on the auction site after the Folly Methodist Chapel was demolished in 2006 and bought them to save for the future.

The donor recently got in touch with St Albans District Council’s museums service, offering to donate the windows to the museum collection.

The names of 12 men who lost their lives during the First World War are shown on the windows. The memorial windows will now be displayed this summer in the temporary exhibition at the Museum of St Albans to mark the centenary of the war.

The windows came from Wheathampstead’s Folly Chapel which was built in 1887 and used for over 100 years as a Methodist chapel and Sunday School. The chapel closed in 2004 and the windows were taken out of the building before it was demolished.

The men named in the windows are: S Bandy, C Carter, F Gray, M Harrison, H Izzard, H Lawrence, G Minal, A Munt, A O'Dell, G Pearce, G Upton-Roberts and H Wilson. The inscription along the bottom of the windows reads: "Their Names Liveth For Evermore 1914-1918".

Councillor Mike Wakely, portfolio holder for sports, leisure and heritage at the council, said: "These windows are an important piece of local history which could so easily have been lost forever.

"The windows help to document the lives of local men who fought for their country during the First World War. We are very grateful to the anonymous donor for their foresight in rescuing the windows, and for their generosity in giving them to St Albans Museums Service."