RENOWNED stained glass artist Sep Waugh - who created windows for the past seven Archbishops of York - has died, aged 79.

Mr Waugh, of Upper Poppleton, near York, who leaves a widow Margaret and a daughter Sue, had been suffering from cancer.

He was born in Bishopthorpe and attended the former Archbishop Holgate Grammar School, where he excelled in art, and in the early 1950s he became an apprentice for famous stained glass window expert, Harry Stammers.

He went on to work for another artist, Harry Harvey, before branching out into business on his own, having studios first in Micklegate and then in Trinity Lane, off Micklegate.

He created stained glass windows depicting coats of arms for the past seven Archbishops of York, including the current Archbishop. Dr John Sentamu, who visited him while he was ill and sent him a card in which he described Mr Waugh as “my great hero.”

His work took him as far away as Surrey and Scotland, and he also travelled to India on two or three occasions to teach Indians in Delhi and Mumbai some of his skills.