November 2002
A rare survival of a once wide-spread funerary practice is currently being researched and conserved in the laboratories of the York Archaeological Trust. Maiden's garlands (or virgin crants as they were sometimes called) were made specially to accompany an unmarried girl of woman to the grave-side, and afterwards hung inside the church as a semi-permanent memorial. Normally made of bent laths of wood covered with coloured tassels and rosettes, only a handful survive scattered across the country since the tradition died out in the late 19th century.
The example currently in York is from St Michael's Church, Theydon Mount in Essex, and is the last example to be discovered and reported. Most unusually, it is covered with sprigs of evergreen box, with pendant tassels of coloured paper. Research at YAT, with the assistance of Consortium members Mary Smith and Ruth Prosser, has established the conservation needs of this unusual object, and also suggested an early date for the printed papers, to the late 17th century.
The garland is extremely fragile and very dirty, and the structure is broken with parts missing, and crudely mended in the past. The process of dismantling and cleaning elements, recording and analysing the materials used and planning the reconstruction has taken a long time. The main challenge is to find a technique to consolidate every surface of this 3-D object and tests are ongoing with a firm in the US to establish whether a highly specialised resin monomer vacuum deposition technique might be appropriate. The initial tests look very promising, but it may still be some months before the wood, box and paper elements can be consolidated, the structure rebuilt, and the garland, mounted in a protective display case, returned to its home in Essex. (This work is being funded by the English Heritage Trust, the Manifold Trust, and Essex County Council).
Below: Sally Kingsley (YAT) uses fine air and vacuum nozzles to dislodge and remove centuries of dirt from the delicate box sprigs decorating this maiden's garland.