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If it really is beading outside that's rotten you should be able to pry just the thin beading that's keeping the glass in off of the frame and replace with similar beading. If it's a routed rebate on the outside you would have to remove the loose beading on the inside, remove the glass and you could then cut the moulding of the outside and replace with nailed on beading, replace glass, paint, job done.
While you're looking at that you could measure the rebates, beading and frame and work out if you can get a decent dg unit in there, maybe 6+6+6 (two 6mm sheets of glass and a 6mm gap. The thicker the unit the more likely it is to improve insulation of heat and sound. You should have around 44mm to play with, usually it's beading circa 12mm each, dg unit max 20mm. There are considerations putting a dg unit into a wooden frame and you need to make sure any beading covers the edge of the double glazed unit which is otherwise very ugly. That's usually the issue as taller beading tends to be wider. The other complication in that calculation is the dg unit should not rest on the wood, it's the primary cause of edge failure and 'blown' dg units.
In short with a bit of planning and some time you can do any of the things you want/need to do to that window. I can't calculate the efficiency loss of the top glass but it would certainly come into play. If it were my call I'd use a laminated glass, possibly acoustic laminated, use an acrylic putty though, linseed oil putty can seep between the lamination.
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You could get the stained glass panels encapsulated into tripple glazed units, which looks good... although you'd have plywood fitted for a few days whilst they were made up.
As @Airhead said, your frame can probably take a DGU if your frame is thick enough for thinner beading/DGU/ moulding (or replacement beading). The edge sealing and spacer rods normaly intrude 11mm from the edge of the glass, but this could be more around the curved edges of the upper panels, so ask whats possible.
Although I'm interested why he suggested 6mm glass for a fairly small window, when 4mm is more common and would allow an extra 4mm of air gap. Likewise laminated for a fixed window with no obvious risk of you falling through it (low level or bottom of staircase), unless its just for increased security.
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Airhead
user69121
@Hovis
We have this window in our house which I think is original to its build. I quite like the stained glass and want to keep as is, however the whole thing is single pane and the beading for the bottom pane is rotten on the outside beyond repair. So I'll need to replace that but am contemplating whether it would be worth swapping the glass for a double glazed unit. Can anyone suggest if it would be at all meaningful in terms of heat retention? Or is it forever doomed because of the stained glass upper section?
Also how DIY able is it? Would the top half fall off if I remove the lower section? I suspect I'd need to make a new frame for the inside too to account for the extra thickness of the double glazed pane.
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