The 1862 William Warrington windows of the Apse at St Alkmund's Church in Whitchurch are quite spectacular and of great historic significance nationally and locally. The funds for the windows were raised by the people of Whitchurch in 1858 and the windows were made and installed in 1860. Warrington died in 1869 and these windows represent some of his later work, of which there are not many examples. The windows produced later on in his career were quite different to those produced earlier on in his life and these three windows are stylistically streets apart from his earlier work.
The original condition report revealed extensive problems with the stained glass, including inadequate support, numerous breaks and extensive very poor previous repair work which was causing significant problems. The studio drew up a comprehensive conservation strategy for treatment and remedial work to eliminate or ameliorate the issues and safeguard the glass for the future. The church then set about fundraising for several years, and applying for grant funding. By 2016 the funds were in place and work began on removing the first of the three windows.
The glass required a huge amount of painstaking work in the Recclesia Stained Glass conservation studio and was subjected to a range of advanced conservation treatments to remove damaging previous repair work, consolidate paintwork, delicately clean the glass, replace missing sections and rebuild the entire lead net using new came.
Following two years of studio conservation work, the three windows were successfully reinstated in 2017 to much public acclaim.