Issue 48 AUG 25 web - Flipbook - Page 25
evil spirits trapped within. These would forever after
plague mankind, only Hope remained behind, a single
blessing to ease mankind's suffering…
The cracks on the painted surface were then filled to
allow monitoring of any movement over the coming
months before the commencement of the second phase,
the interior conservation treatment.
Chroma Conservation’s work at Wollaton Hall was
carried out in two phases. The first took place during the
summer of 2024 and included a structural assessment of
the ceiling and a plan for remediation lead by our senior
stone and plaster conservator, Paul Wooles. An area either
side of a large stepped crack fracture running South
to North and its associated branched cracking on the
interior painted side of the ceiling was mapped onto the
exterior and following the erection of a temporary roofed
scaffold the corresponding section of leaded roof was
removed to allow access to clean considerable building
debris and detritus.
The second phase of interior works was a full conservation
treatment of the ceiling and cornice and was carried out
by Chroma’s team of talented conservators and artists
between March and June of 2025.
With over 320 years being subject to the ravages of time,
neglect, dirt deposition, damage by water ingress and
some previously inappropriate restoration treatments The
Creation of Pandora ceiling and the finely painted
grisailles and gilded trompe l’oeil cornice frieze was put
on the Natural England At Risk Register.
The East elevation cornice had suffered from roof and
internal drain leaks and had received a skim of inappropriate modern gypsum plaster over the damaged surface.
However, the problem was never resolved, the roof
continued to leak with the modern plaster repair
becoming unstable.
Upon inspection the roof timbers were found to be in
reasonably good condition and with no signs of biological
or historical infestation. However, certain supporting
timbers had failed due to splitting along the natural grain.
During the 19th century large diameter threaded bolts
were used to stabilise this principal ceiling beam which
had caused cracking in the painted surface. It is thought
that extra damage was created to the interior plaster
surface and cornice by the tensioning of these bolts.
The entire length of cornice was displaying salt efflorescence which meant it had to be stripped and allowed to
dry after having been trapped by the non breathing gypsum repairs.
The ceiling fractures were reinforced with resin and 3 mm
threaded stainless steel fixings and suspended from
stainless steel straps running perpendicular to the ceiling
joists.
This entire length of cornice was repaired to allow the
recreation of the decorative scheme, depicting faces or
masks of men and women surrounded by a repeating
Acanthus leaf motif and the intriguing double Green Man
Photograph by Andy Marshall
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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