Archive Post 10: Three day stone masonry course, Lincoln.

Earlier this year I decided to take a short course in Stone Masonry. Working regularly with stone and stone working tools I'd been keen to try it out for some time.

The course is ran by Ayley Fridlington in Lincoln and runs for three days. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has an interest, amateur or professional.

The initial stage involved marking up the block of stone, creating a chamfer off one corner and adding two fillets. The chamfer was then worked back with chamfers of smaller and smaller size until it started to resemble a curve.

Once this was completed a return was marked up and begun in a similar manner, followed by another mitre and return on the other.

The whole process was really satisfying and I learnt an awful lot. This has since helped me interpret and record stone masonry during conservation work. It's a skill I hope to keep up and really would encourage anyone with an interest to give in a go.

The next post will be an archive post on the work I've been carrying our over the last two months in Attingham Park near Shrewsbury.

Archive Post 9: 17th century painted shields, St. Saviours, Dartmouth.

Towards the end of the project at St Saviours for McNeilage Conservation we conserved a series of painted shields. These shields are along the front of an ornate 17th century carved gallery at the west end of the church.

Some of the shield following conservation.

The shields had been varnished and the varnish had turned brown over time. The paint had also began to come away in some areas. It was important for the preservation of these painted panels that the varnish was carefully removed.

One of the shields prior to varnish removal.

Using gentle swab cleaning with mild solvents the varnish was removed from the painted surface. The paints revealed were bright and rich, in some cases revealing details not visible before the varnish was removed.

Varnish removal using swab cleaning.

Due to the delicate nature of the paint in some areas cleaning was undertaken using a magnification head lens. This allows for much more delicate and precise cleaning whilst still providing the flexibility required for working on a small platform at height.

The above shield after varnish removal.

Once the varnish was removed from all of the shields a conservation grade varnish was applied to protect and consolidate the historic paint layer. The next post will discuss a short course I took in stone masonry.

Archive Post 8: The Chancel Ceiling, St. Saviours Dartmouth.

In an earlier post I discussed the conservation of the painted ceilings as St. Saviours in Dartmouth.
The project was run by McNeilage Conservation. Since then the project has finished and I'll conclude what we did in this post and one scheduled for Friday. They're a bit longer with a few more photos than usual as I'm trying to squeeze a lot in!

Varnished ceiling in north transept.

The ceilings in the transepts and aisles had the old brown varnish removed as shown in the last post and a high quality, reversible, clear, low shine varnish applied. After this we moved into the  beautiful barrel vaulted chancel.

A section of the chancel ceiling before conservation.

    The chancel ceiling has a similar design to the aisles and transept though the ribs within the panels are painted on, as are the "bosses". The central star "bosses" are gilded and a red glaze has been applied to create shadows and provide a three dimensional effect. As with the other ceilings they had a thick varnish on the surface which has severely darkened over time obscuring the design underneath.

Part of the ceiling during varnish removal.

 In the non-gilded areas the varnish was removed in a similar way to the lower ceilings, with careful swab cleaning using specialist solvents. The gilded stars required a much lighter clean using weak solvents to remove the varnish safely without affecting the gilding or the red shading on the gold.

Removal of varnish from one of the star "bosses".

The cleaning process took almost a month as the area was large and the paint was more sensitive on this ceiling. All of the painted ceilings are in a renaissance style but at some point (most likely in the 19th century) the boards have been refitted and some replaced. After this the scheme was repainted over the top, though in some areas the paint surface of the original scheme is visible in raking light.

The final stages in the clean.

After removing the old varnish a conservation grade varnish was applied to protect the painted surface of the ceiling. This also returned the slight sheen the ceiling would have originally had when completed.

The ceiling after varnishing.

The ceiling looked superb on completion with its bright blue and striking gilded stars. The next post will discuss another job in the same church, the conservation of the 17th century shields on the carved gallery.

Archive Post 7: Wall to the south of Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury.

Returning to Tewkesbury for another project ran by Cliveden Conservation in November and December 2013 myself and a colleague conserved a large wall just to the south of Tewkesbury Abbey.

Placing replacement stones on the wall.

The wall was constructed of mostly medieval stone excavated during landscaping carried out in the C19th. Over time the top course of stones had severely weathered and parts of the wall had bulged and slumped. We removed the top course and replaced it using original stone wherever possible.

A section of the wall that had been dismantled
and rebuilt with a new top course.

In some areas where the wall had moved it was taken apart and rebuilt in the same formation, though this was not necessary for the majority of the length.

The completed wall.

The wall was on the the buildings at risk register owing to the important archaeological stone contained with it. As such it was important to ensure it remains stable and safe for the future. At almost 50m long this substantial project was a great way to finish 2013.

The wall and the abbey.

This is the final archive post, I hope you've enjoyed them. Following Tewkesbury I went to Trusham in January and on to Dartmouth in February.

Painted Ceiling, St. Saviours Church, Dartmouth.

After some problems due to the weather I'm back in Dartmouth working for McNeilage Conservation in the wonderful St. Saviour's Church. The church was built mainly during the 14th Century with many 17th Century additions, including the wooden ceiling we've been working on.

St. Saviour's Church.

Although the date of the decoration on the ceiling is still in discussion what is certain is that an inappropriate and severely darkened varnish is covering it. We're working to remove this varnish and reveal the brightly coloured ceiling underneath.

Removing varnish from the ceiling of the transept.

The colour change is really striking and it's a very satisfying process to gradually remove this varnish which is not only masking the painted surface but also potentially damaging the paint below. In future weeks we will be moving from the transepts and onto the chancel ceiling, a similar painted ceiling, though barrel vaulted and gilded, keep posted for more on that.

One of the painted stars during varnish removal.

Once the varnish has been removed a matt varnish, which will not yellow or brown and has breathable qualities will be applied to protect the painted layer for future decades. 

On Friday the final archive post will go up, the second job I was involved in at Tewkesbury last year.

Archive Post 6: Tower, St. Cross, Winchester.

Following on from the project in early October at St. Cross I worked there on the painting of the tower interior for McNeilage Conservation. They had begun with a smaller team cleaning and conserving the inside and I joined them to paint the stone walls following this.

The top lift of the scaffold inside the tower

The wonderful painted ceiling was conserved prior to my arrival and I worked with the team painting an oil based distemper on the walls, arches and walkways below.

The bottom lift of the three large scaffold floors.

The oil based distemper was used as lime wash would not adhere to the layers of previous paint. On most areas two or more coats were used to provide good coverage over the stones which were more porous. Repairs were also carried out on a vaulted ceiling over the south transept.

The church during the project.

Both this project and the one highlighted last week were part of a large conservation project at the hospital, England's oldest charitable institution.

Next Friday will highlight the second project at Tewkesbury Abbey I took part in.

Archive Post 5: Renaissance Stalls, St. Cross, Winchester.

In October I was employed by Madeleine Katkov to work on a very unusual oak pair of benches with early Renaissance carved panels, possibly the first to enter Britain. They reside in an almshouse, The Hospital of St. Cross.

One of the main panels during conservation.

As a contrast to most of the work I carried out in 2013 this was a piece of wooden furniture, though on a large scale. Most of the cleaning was carried out with gentle swab cleaning using ammonia water.

A panel during cleaning.

The projects was carried out by Madeleine and myself along with a few members of the local community who quickly developed the skills and attitudes required for such a delicate conservation project.

Paint uncovering on one of the pendants.

In addition to the cleaning there were some paint layers on the carvings which were uncovered with chemical and gentle mechanical methods. 

Next Friday's post will discuss some more work at St. Cross, this time up in the tower. 

Down tools!

I hope you're enjoying the archive posts, still three more to go. Here's a very quick post about what I'm up to at the moment. I'm currently working on a project in Dartmouth on the painted ceiling at St. Saviours Church.

St. Saviours, Dartmouth. 

I worked there last week but annoyingly the weather has intervened and I've had to pause for the time being due to the loss of train and road links between Devon and the North. So until the 24th I'm working on other projects at home.

The destroyed line on my route.

Once I'm back I'll take plenty of photos of the work and post them here. The project's really exciting, and has already thrown up some new discoveries.

On Friday there will be another archive post, this time of the wonderful Renaissance panels at St. Cross in Winchester.

Archive Post 4: Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury.

In the longest project I've taken part in so far I worked from March to September 2013 with Cliveden Conservation at the beautiful Norman Tewkesbury Abbey. Working on the external stone we conserved through pinning fire damaged stones, re-pointing, rendering, tile repairs and cement removal.

The conserved side of the abbey after the project.

Excluding the tower and the east-end, all of the walls on the south side of the abbey were fully conserved. The project was a huge undertaking and required a great deal of preparation and ongoing planning to ensure the lime related work was performed efficiently.

The lengthy triforium platform. 

The access to the triforium was provided by a suspended scaffold platform and mortar repairs on this lift required very regular tending over the exceptionally hot summer of 2013. The abbey has had a very controversial history of conservation, inspiring William Morris to found the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) following the highly destructive restoration of the late C19th. Now the conservation is much more sensitive and ethical.

Tile repairs to the west end of the south wall.

Some previous restorers had used local sandstone to replace damaged stones. These stones are incompatible with the limestone of the building and had mostly turned to sand and been lost. To rectify this we used limestone coloured tiles and lime putty to build up lost areas of stone and return the shape of the original stone while still retaining the honesty of a visual repair.

Next Friday's archive will be on renaissance panels at St. Cross in Winchester.

Archive Post 3: Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

In February 2013 I was part of a team preparing Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford for the Maundy Thursday visit by the Queen, broadcast worldwide by the BBC. The project, ran by Cliveden Conservation, composed of repairs to the stone, cleaning and lime washing.

The marble floor after conservation.

A major aspect of the work was the cleaning, waxing and polishing of the Victorian marble floor. This included the careful cleaning of the monument to Edward Bouverie Pusey (bottom left of above photo) which I carried out towards the end of the project. 

Monuments during cleaning from a mobile scaffold tower.

Work around the entrance of the cathedral included vacuum cleaning the ornate wooden ceiling, monument cleaning and cleaning and lime washing two large walls either side of the west door. Much of this work was carried out by myself at height using a movable aluminium scaffold. 

One of the two west walls following conservation.

Many of the fine Norman columns were also cleaned where grease and dirt had built up over many years. The Church remained open throughout the project, and is extremely popular with tourists who on the whole seemed to really enjoy observing conservation up close. 

Next Friday the archive post will be about Tewkesbury Abbey.  

Archive Post 2: The Ashmolean, Oxford.

In January, 2013 I was part of a small team from Cliveden Conservation who moved a large collection of Greek and Roman sculptures at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The sculpture gallery before work began. 

The large gallery near the entrance to the museum needed to be emptied to prepare for a redecoration project. All of the statues, some weighing around 1.8 tons were moved into store or the centre of the room where they were wrapped for protection.

One of the larger statues removed from niche. 

The large statues were moved with a gantry and lowered onto specially made pallets for transportation. Smaller statues were slid onto scissor lifts and put into the stone store in the museum.

Dismantling an object prior to removal from gallery.

Some of the items were held together in sections by pins and had to be dismantled in situ to ensure safe handling.

Next Friday's archive post will be about a project at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

Archive Post 1: The University Church of St. Mary, Oxford.

So here's the first of the archive posts that'll be going live every Friday at 17.00 GMT for the next two months!

St. Mary's is Oxford University's church right in the centre of the historic city. In 2012 the church underwent a huge internal and external conservation project. The interior was conserved by a team from Cliveden Conservation of which I was a part for the last three months of the project running up to Christmas 2012.

The birdcage scaffold in the nave.

I worked in the stone section of the team in the nave of the church and the work was very diverse. I worked on cleaning stone, lime washing, plaster repairs, mortar repairs, steam cleaning of monuments, toning in on monuments, floor repairs and many other processes over the winter.

The Nicholas Stone porch after conservation.

I was also lucky enough to work with a colleague on the beautiful Baroque porch designed by Nicholas Stone, Charles I's Master Mason. Over a few weeks we cleaned the porch, re-pointed where necessary and used a pigmented lime wash to bring the entire porch together visually.  

The bell's being returned to the church near the end of the project. 

The project was a wonderful experience and gave me a great deal of practice in the field of stone conservation. 

In next Friday's blog post I'll share some photos of my work at the Ashmolean in January 2013.

Trusham Church Wall Paintings.

Well it's been a while! Since my last posts I've been very busy working for a few different conservation companies across the country and sadly the blog has stalled!

To rectify this I've scheduled a blog post for every Friday at 17.00 GMT over the next seven weeks covering most of the projects I've been involved with since September 2012. I've tried to keep them brief and colourful, but if you want any more information please do contact me.

I'm going to start with the most recent but from then on I'll pop them up from the oldest to the most recent. So without further a do here's what I've been up to this month:

The East Wall.

The Church of St. Michael The Archangel in Trusham is a small Medieval parish church in Devon. It is having a large refurbishment at the moment and as part of this project McNeilage Conservation have been working on the painted ceiling over the choir and the painted east wall.

One of the painted ceiling panels. 

As part of their team I undertook work cleaning, stripping and filling areas of the panels and the east wall to help improve the appearance and long term condition of the painted surfaces.

Part of the metal painted panel over the window during cleaning.

The scheme was a relatively simple floral pattern, Victorian or later, and incorporated a painted and gilded metal sheet panel with a motto over the East Window. The conservation was primarily conducted with swab cleaning under magnification and other controlled cleaning methods.

This Friday at 17.00 the first archive post will go live, some photos of a project at St. Mary's in Oxford.