Why We Document a Window Before Touching It

Every restoration is also a subtraction. Something is cleaned off, replaced, or stabilised, and the previous state is gone. If it was not recorded, it is not recoverable.

Before work begins we produce measured drawings, full-size rubbings of the leadlines, and photographs of each panel in raking and transmitted light. Paint loss, earlier repairs and maker marks are noted where they fall.

The parish keeps a copy. Decades from now, whoever opens that window next will know exactly what they are looking at, and what was ours.