Notes on Conservation

Another Blog of interest!

2008-06-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

This is a fascinating read....

www.thoughtsonconservation.blogspot.com

.... I particularly the guidance post on buying your first toolbox for Conservation!

Conservation at Calke Abbey and Sudbury Hall

2007-09-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

The National Trust Museum of Childhood based at Sudbury Hall is currently undergoing a period of transformation - enter the conservators to go through the entire collection producing condition reports, taking photographs, and carry out necessary treatments.

I was able to volunteer on the project for a couple of weeks:
a fascinating experience, and also an eye-opener for how quickly conservators have to assess and treat objects in big projects!

Hanbury Hall

2007-08-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

A return visit to Hanbury Hall enabled Simon and I to see the completion of a newly restored paint scheme in one of the upstairs rooms - paint analysis undertaken for the National Trust had revealed Walnut-effect paintwork. This has now been recreated, and the results are remarkable, especially the reproduction of wood grain.

Our visit also allowed us to see the flowering of the restored plant garden at the back of the property.

Stratford-upon-avon

2007-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Whilst Simon was taking photos for a wedding just outside Stratford, I decided to be a tourist for the day and visit the "Birthplace of William Shakespeare!" That American and Japanese tourists really seem to love this town, must be due to the Medieval architecture that has survived so well. Some of the smaller cottages are also quintessential picture-postcard territory. The other major lure of the town must surely be the RSC - former home to some of the most popular English actors. The Swan Theatre is excellently placed overlooking the river Avon. At the moment, the company is involved in the cycle of history plays - it currently being the turn of Henry IV.

New Magna Carta book

2007-07-31T01:57:00.000-07:00

Simon and recently did some photographs for a new publication by Lincoln Cathedral on the Magna Carta to accompany the tour of the document to America. The Magna Carta has now returned to Lincoln, and the book has been published in England. To celebrate this fact: the Chancellor of the Cathedral gave his lecture "Magna Carta - an icon for the 21st century? on Saturday. This was a really interesting lecture, and well delivered. The Chancellor argues that the Magna Carta is not so much important for what was written down, but rather what it inspires in its readers - an aspiration for freedoms and democracy. The influence of the Magna Carta is self evident, and not only in the obvious choice of the American declaration, but also in aspiring democracies across the world. It is true that not every constitution that has been inspired by the Magna Carta has survived its attackers, but what is perhaps more important are the attempts and dreams of those who have dared to believe. The Chancellor's final point was that Magna Carta presents us with a challenge: to continue the struggle for basic freedoms for all people that was codified at Runnymede in 1215.
It only remains for me to say do look out for the book - the photographs in the first couple of chapters are great!

HMS Discovery at the Waterfront festival

2007-07-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

As part of the Waterfront festival in Lincoln this year, Brayford Pool played host to a full-size replica of HMS Discovery, the ship which took early settlers from Lincolnshire to Virginia. Much smaller than you would imagine, the ship is remarkable due to its incredible journey across the Atlantic.

Lyme Regis

2007-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

We've just returned from a Camping Holiday in Lyme Regis. Having not been camping since my Guide days, I was a little apprehensive about the tent, especially given it was one of the smallest at the tent show! However, Simon's large car more than mad up for it, and we certainly managed to take absolutely everything we could possibly have wanted!

As well as enjoying the beach and fossil hunting in Lyme Regis itself, we visited the local 'Philpot Museum', which provided a fascinating picture of local history - the old fire engine was particularly sweet. We also visited Sherbourne Abbey, the Cerne Abbas Giant, the Dorchester Museum, the heritage centre at Charmouth, a cider brewery and winery in Axeminster, and a lovely house owned by the National Trust at Shute. It's truly amazing how many places you can visit in 5 days when you put your mind to it.

We were also lucky to catch the start of the 2nd Fossil Festival before we left. The Natural History museum had brought their new table-top 'Scanning Electron Microscope' to demonstrate.... whilst it does quite have the same resolution as the full size version, it's still an impressive museum. On the Friday night we also attended two lectures: one about the evolution of man, the cyclical nature of Ice Ages, and how man continues to survive by Christopher Stringer - interesting, also perhaps a good argument for why not to get too worried by 'climate change' and 'global warming' since maybe it's all part of a natural cycle of events. The second lecture was given by Hugh Torrens, and described the geology of Dorset, and the people who have worked to describe and explain - an engaging speaker on a fascinating subject.

On the way back to Lincoln we stopped off in Wells, visiting the Cathedral and meeting up with some friends. The Cathedral is wonderful, and the newly cleaned Chapter House looks very white - sometimes we can forget just how dirty the stonework actually is!

Coughton Court and Hanbury Hall

2007-04-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

The Easter Bank holiday provided an excellent chance to visit two National Trust properties in the Midlands. The first, Hanbury Hall is a William & Mary style house designed by William Rudhall for the lawyer Thomas Vernon, completed in the early 18th Century. Particularly interesting was the recent restoration work undertaken on the grand staircase murals: the flaking paint has been consolidated, greatly improving the overall effect, and ensuring the survival of the murals.

The second property was Coughton Court, famous as a location involved in the infamous gunpowder plot! Although the family were allegedly never involved, some of the conspirators were staying in the house when the plot was being carried out. This impressive Tudor House boasts priest holes and important Catholic artefacts.

Avoncroft

2007-04-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Whilst in Birmingham, Simon and I visited the Avoncroft Open Air Museum. Here, a number of farming buildings have been transplanted from their original homes and transformed into a small farming village. Thus, there is a Windmill, Blacksmiths, Barn, Cider-press, and tin Methodist Chapel, as well as a Dovecote and Ice-house. It's an eclectic mix, and an interesting way of preserving our rural heritage.

Ironbridge

2007-03-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

A visit to the Ironbridge Institute of Industrial Archaeology and Conservation was combined with a tour of some of the museums included in the World Heritage Ironbridge site.

Given the origins of Ironbridge it seemed appropriate to visit the original forge and the 'Museum of Iron', we also chose the 'Jackfield Tile Museum' and the 'Coalport Pottery Museum' to coincide with my love of ceramics and recent lectures on Tiles. On the matter of Tiles, the Jackfield Museum was excellent is describing and illustrating the various processes and techniques by means of a serious of short videos. There were also lots of examples of all the different styles of decoration and uses of the tiles themselves. The Kilns and workshops at the Coalport Museum were good for understanding the conditions people worked in. No visit to Ironbridge would also not be complete without going to see the famous bridge of Abraham Derby himself - a true work of engineering genius!

The World Heritage site is extremely good in helping to bring the Industrial Revolution to life - and highlighting the great variety of industries that were developed.

London Trip

2007-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

A trip to the ceramics conservation department at the V&A Museum in London also provided an excellent opportunity to go and see Jamie, and to visit some other the other Museums in Central London.

After travelling on the train from Lincoln to Kings Cross, the first museum on our itinerary was "The British Museum"! It was particularly exciting to see all the Greek artefacts, having spent so much time studying them in the past. The 'Elgin Marbles' certainly didn't disappoint, and it was pleasing to see that the museum have decided to display them in a room large enough to do justice to the size of the Parthenon. The question of ownership remains unresolved with these sculptures: personally I think that the museum are looking after the collection well, and the London location has made them accessible to a whole new group of people, who wouldn't necessarily visit Athens. It's clear that both sides will argue for many years to come... Another highlight for me were the Assyrian reliefs - it's amazing just how much detail was carved into the rock in the depiction of the lion hunt and seige scenes. It was also good to see the actual Rosetta stone and Neried Monument. Last, but by no means least, were the Greek Vases - it's always good to see new examples, also to look at the ones featured in my studies. It's sometimes easy to forget the actual size of the vases, they can be alot smaller, or larger than a picture would suggest.

Monday morning was spent in the Natural History Museum - a place that must be commended for managing to balance the desire for a child friendly museum, and a centre of academic research. The dinosaur exhibitions is both highly informative and interesting without being inaccessible for young children. The extensive research collection, and opportunity to visit it ensures that our knowledge is constantly improved and updated. What I like about this museum is not only the collection, but also the Victorian Architecture. The entrance hall is large and impressive, and small carvings on the exterior are incredibly detailed.

The main reason for visiting London was the subject of Monday afternoon. Staff on the Conservation team spent time showing us the laboratories in the V&A Museum. Sometimes we forget quite how much work is happening behind the scenes preparing objects for display, and ensuring the collections are looked after for future generations. A walk round the museum looking at the preparation for the new galleries highlights the fact that not all conservation work takes place at the bench - two people were carefully removing a Roman monument, that had been attached to the wall with iron armatures and cement in Victorian times - clearly it had originally been intended to remain there!

A short visit to the Royal Albert Hall to see another fine example of Victorian Architecture was followed by a visit to the Science Museum. As all good science museums do, there were plenty of 'hands-on' exhibits. My highlight of the museum has to be one of the earliest computers - Babbage's counting machine - technology certainly has developed!

Amsterdam Trip

2007-01-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from a course trip to Amsterdam - a number of Graduate Diploma and First Years went on the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam with some of the course tutors. The time in Amsterdam was sufficient to visit a number of the museums there, including the Van Gough Museum, and Archaeology Museum. The group also visited the National Ethnology museum in Leiden, and were able to take a trip to the conservation laboratories there. Since we're quite fond of plants as well, Simon and I also took the opportunity to visit the Botanical gardens, whilst some of the group visited the Modern Art galleries.

Jamie's visit

2006-12-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

A visit from Jamie to coincide with the Lincoln Christmas market, also provide an excellent excuse to visit the Cathedral. Certainly one of the largest and most impressive Cathedrals I've visited, it dominates the Lincolnshire skyline. Once inside, evidence of the major rebuilding work is present in the roof, as the west front facade doesn't align with the rest of the Cathedral! It wasn't too difficult to find the stone imp in the archways of the Angel Choir, careful inspection also reveals many more similar details in the stone carvings, including a Green Man, and the 'Man in the Moon'.

The Christmas Market in Lincoln is a huge event, with stalls taking over most of uphill Lincoln - they are also located inside the castle grounds, as well as the Lawn, and the square outside the Cathedral. Whilst several stalls are from the local fairground, some people have come from Germany, and Norway. In the cold winter evening, the mulled wine and hot sausages were perhaps the most popular attractions!

Tattershall Castle

2006-10-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

Tattershall Castle is another National Trust owned property. Built in the 15th Century, it is a six-floored, red brick Tudor building. It was built for the 3rd Lord Cormwell, who was the Lord Treasurer, on the site of a 13th century stone castle. In this property, the National Trust have decided against adding too much furniture, allowing the stark nature of the Gothic architecture to take centre stage. Particulary impressive are the remaining stone fireplaces.

Belton House

2006-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today, Simon Alan and I visited Belton House. This was built in the 1680s by the Brownlows, and was the family home for 300 years before coming into the Cust family. Belton House is a good example of Classicist Architecture - a revival of ancient Greek and Roman architecture, heavily influenced by Vitruvius' work "de Architectura". The main features of this style are a central block, with wings and pavillions on either side - very symmetrical and ordered.

One of the most noticeable features of the interior decor of the house is that whilst the walls are wooden, they have been painted to resemble stone or marble features. This gives the effect of heightened grandeur.

Art History Trip

2006-10-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Graduate Diploma and BA 1 groups went on a trip with John Lord to visit some new places in Lincolnshire. First stop was Crowland Abbey. In the city of Crowland was an unusual shaped bridge: Trinity Bridge.

We stopped for lunch in the historic market town of Spalding

Whilst in Spalding we visited Ayscoughfee Hall. This was built in 1451 by a wealthy wool merchant - Richard Aldwyn. The architecture of the building reflects changing tastes throughout its ownership.

Woolsthorpe Manor

2006-10-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Simon, Alan and I went to Woolsthorpe Manor. This is a 17th century Manor House, and Isaac Newton was born here in December 1642. Newton returned to Woolsthorpe from Cambridge to escape the plague that was rife in the city in 1665. The manor house was where some of Newton's most well known ideas and theories were developed. A descendant of the infamous apple tree is still fruiting in the garden outside the house.

The National Trust is now responsible for the property: and has furnished it as befits the class of the Newton family. Although not originally found in the property: the fittings all date to the period that Newton would have lived there. One of the most exciting additions by the National Trust is the conversion of an old barn into a hands-on science centre. Here all of Newton's theories in mathematics, optics, and gravity have been illustrated for children. The Lincoln Longwool sheep in the fields next to the house indicate its farming past.