York Consortium for Conservation and Craftsmanship
Reference was made in the last Newsletter to the potential development under the auspices of the National Heritage Training Group, of a Heritage Academy for the Yorkshire and Humber Region, where apprentice craftsmen could acquire the expert skills required to work on historic buildings through hands-on experience under the direction of experts on actual restoration projects. A strategy for how the “Academy” will operate has been agreed, Dr Ingrid Roscoe has agreed to be its Patron, and it will be launched at a ceremony at the King’s Manor in York on 5 September. The launch will hopefully bring on board the many interested groups whose input and commitment will be required to make a success of the project. It will then be for the Steering Group to identify projects for the Academy to sponsor to give practical effect to its aims.
Meanwhile one Consortium member, Craven College based in Skipton, , is already implementing such hands-on training through its Centre for Construction and Heritage Skills under the direction of its manager Glenn Young. The Centre now in its third year of existence was set up to respond to the needs of its region, working on vernacular buildings in the Dales National Park and beyond. Since opening in Sept 2005 it has doubled each year in learner numbers and facilities. It supports a wide range of educational and training programmes, delivering both introductory and progression craft courses across the North of England. It has also supported other organisations such as Accrington and Rossendale College, the North West Conservation Trust, the Fitzwilliam Estate in Ryedale, and British Waterways in various regions. Information about the Centre and its courses can be obtained from Glenn on 01756 708932 or gyoung@craven-college.ac.uk.
An excellent field of applicants for the Consortium’s 2008 bursaries gave the judging panel, headed again by Graham Wilford, a real headache in deciding on the winners. The awards were presented following the Consortium’s AGM in June. The Scottish Lime Trust received £2000, an award sponsored by the John Spedan Lewis Foundation, to assist with the costs of a new apprentice stonemason. Decorative plasterers, Ryedale Plasterers Ltd, received a £1000 award from the Grand Charity of the Freemasons to assist the further training of a talented employee. Other awards went to two conservators from the Royal Armouries in Leeds, to a conservator of Japanese souvenir albums, and to a stone carver taking a year out to pursue a William Morris Fellowship from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
In January 2007 the Gillian Walker Studio was appointed to undertake the HLF-funded conservation and restoration of some 65 easel paintings from Wakefield Art Gallery. The paintings are for display in the Hepworth Wakefield which will open in late 2009. They range from early 17th to late 20th century, and encompass a range of styles and techniques. The work being carried out involves all aspects of restoration (surface dirt and/or varnish removal, filling, retouching and re-varnishing) and structural work (re-lining or strip-lining) as required, the replacement of paintings onto existing or new stretchers, and into their frames with glazing and backboards.
The HLF funding has enabled the studio to employ a recent MA graduate in the Conservation of Fine Art, the variety of work is providing her with a full range of practical experience.
The Consortium’s AGM was held on Monday 27 June at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall. The Accounts for the year 2007/8 for both the Consortium and Foundation were approved. Those for the Consortium showed a deficit for the year of £1036, attributable to the purchase of a new set of display panels to promote the Consortium at public events. The Foundation’s Bursary Fund had increased in the course of the year to £161,421 thanks to additional donations received. (Copies of the Accounts and the Chairman’s Report may be obtained from the Secretary.)
The Committee members retiring by rotation, Don Barker, Keith Barley and Kevin Clancy, were re-elected, and Andy Lawson (replacing Dr Jane Grenville) and Chris Jones were formally elected to the Committee.
Following the AGM a large audience from the Consortium and York Civic Trust had been attracted to hear the John Shannon Conservation Lecture, given this year by Navin Piplani, Hamlyn-Feilden Fellow at the University of York. His subject was the work of the team restoring the mausoleum and precinct of the Taj Mahal.
The lecture was both fascinating and thought-provoking. Fascinating in the description of the size and complexity of the extensive Taj Mahal site – something of which visitors admiring only the mausoleum itself are not always aware – and the problems which the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative faced in determining how the massive task of its conservation should be approached. Fascinating also in demonstrating how some of the problems were managed, and how local craftsmen expertly applied their traditional craft skills to restoring the most delicate carvings and inlays. But the speaker also set out a challenge, contrasting a “western” attitude to conservation, which insists that everything old should be conserved as far as possible in its “aged” state, with an “eastern” approach which emphasises heritage continuity through the skills of the original craftsmen being carried on by their successors today who show equal creativity and skill in restoring the old.
York’s reputation as a centre for stained glass will be greatly enhanced by two linked developments. A new Director has been appointed for the York Glaziers Trust, and a new MA course at the University of York in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management has been introduced.
The person taking on these two key responsibilities is Sarah Brown, currently head of research policy for places of worship at English Heritage. Sarah gained her own MA, in Medieval Studies, at the University and is internationally recognised as a leading expert on medieval stained glass and its conservation.
As Director of the Glaziers Trust, Sarah will lead the team entrusted with the conservation of the Minster’s Great East Window, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on one of the world’s greatest windows”, she says. Having been a trustee of the YGT for many years she has already played an important advisory role in the recently completed restoration of the St William window.
The 2-year course at the University will be the only one of its kind in the English-speaking world, and will include practical training with some of York’s leading stained glass conservators and 5-month placements in Europe and the USA. The latter will include Cologne Cathedral and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art. The aim is to recruit up to eight students each year, and in the future to offer research degrees.
The floods of June 2007 required the call-up of paper conservator Richard Hawkes of Artworks Conservation to lead the salvage of paper-based material at Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust’s (SGMT) Social History Collection Store. The storeroom, located at the Kelham Island Museum, contained some 4000 prints, drawings, and watercolours as well as large quantities of books, oil paintings and ephemera.
When the River Don burst its banks, water levels rose over a metre throughout the museum and its storage areas and several plan-chests were submerged. In the immediate aftermath staff from the SMGT, assisted by Richard and a small team of conservators from the region, transferred material to a nearby dry store and began the long process of sorting and drying paper and books. After five days most of the material was either dried or frozen for later assessment, and the team’s rapid response had meant that of the many thousands of items very few works on paper were irretrievably damaged.
Work continues on remedial treatment for the papers, many requiring cleaning to remove silt and pollutants left by the river water and to reduce the effects of curling and re-mounting. To help share lessons learned last summer, Richard together with staff of York Minster Library and Archive, is organising a training event on flood salvage for museum staff, to be held in late 2008 at St William’s College.
A treasure trove of 18th century documents from the Lascelles family of Harewood House are being conserved at the Borthwick Institute for Archives of the University of York. The Lascelles family were plantation owners in Barbados, and their documentary records, giving a detailed picture of the business of sugar plantation life between 1720 and 1840, were deposited with the Borthwick in 2006 by the present Lord Harewood, a former Chancellor of the University. They will be an important source of study for historians, not least on the subject of slavery.
Having been kept for years in a safe next to a coke boiler, the constant heating up and cooling down has left the documents in poor shape. There are tears, cracks and holes. The ink used has eaten into the paper. And high acidity and water staining have left marks obscuring parts of the text. But the potential value of these documents to historians has led the Borthwick to embark on a major conservation programme. The task is in the hands of conservation assistant, Catherine Dand, and is being supervised by Senior Conservator, Trevor Cooper. Their aim is to repair the documents to the point that they are safe to be made publicly available and usable by historians.
Each year the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) offers a number of William Morris Fellowships to young craftsmen and women involved in historic building repairs. The Fellowship consists of a six-month course, made up of three two-month blocks spread over a year. It exposes the selected Fellows to all aspects of repairing and conserving buildings from the theoretical to the practical, and covers all the main materials and crafts involved. The training is fully funded by sponsors and, though employers are expected to continue paying the craftsman’s wages for the full year of the course, the Construction Industries Training Board, recognising the value of the course, does provide financial support.
A number of previous Fellows have been craftsmen employed by Consortium members or have been trained at York College, and some have been winners of our Foundation’s bursaries. Although the closing date for 2008 applications will have passed by the time this Newsletter is published, the Secretary can provide further information on the Fellowships, which should certainly be considered by members for future years.
On 12 January York University’s Archaeology Department launched the Hamlyn Feilden Fellowship, a new post which will further contribute to York’s reputation as a centre of excellence for conservation and will have a particular emphasis on the training and use of expert craftsmen. The three-year fellowship, to celebrate Sir Bernard Feilden’s major contribution to conservation in the UK and internationally, is being funded by the Helen Hamlyn Trust, the York Annual Fund and the University. Its remit is to continue to develop the MA in Conservation Studies and to work with the National Heritage Training Group to ameliorate the crisis in traditional building craft skills in the UK.
Quantity Surveyors A S Friend and Partners are about to start work on two listed buildings belonging to Lady Anne Middleton’s Hotel in Skeldergate. The first involves converting storerooms in the attic of No.56 to form en-suite bedrooms, requiring complicated adaptation of original timber roof trusses to provide headroom. The second is the conversion of the redundant two upper floors above Emperor’s Gymnasium to form five duplex apartments (three with a further gallery level) and making an important feature of the splendid trussed beams and rafters
Richard Hawkes of Artworks Conservation, Harrogate, has been cleaning and conserving two very unusual ancient records for York Minster’s Dean & Chapter. Known as ‘The Tables of the Vicars Choral’, they consist of large folding triptychs of oak on which were fastened sheets of inscribed parchment. Possibly made in the late 14th century, they were still displayed in the
Minster in 1534. Rediscovered abandoned in the Minster coal cellars in about 1920, they will now be put on show alongside other treasures in the Minster’s Undercroft.
Another Brick in the Wall
Another award for the York Handmade Brick Co. has come as a result of the 26,000 handmade bricks the company produced for the restoration of the derelict walled garden at Broughton Hall, Skipton. This successful project won Best Landscape Project in the 2006 National Brick Awards, and follows previous awards for their work at Scampston Hall and Manchester’s Murray Mill.
Anelay's Biggest Contract
Wm Anelay Ltd has embarked upon the biggest contract in its 260 year history. The £4.5 million contract is for the complete restoration of the Gorton Monastery in Manchester and its transformation into a conference centre. This elaborate Victorian building, designed by Edward Pugin (of Houses of Parliament fame) for Franciscan monks, had fallen into substantial disrepair and now requires the skilled attention of Anelay’s wide variety of craftsmen – stonemasons, lead workers, bricklayers, and stained glass experts.
Guild Awards
York Guild of Building makes a number of awards annually for outstanding work of design and craftsmanship. Their 2006 awards, which included Consortium members, were as follows:-
For work of outstanding individual craftsmanship – Rachel Thomas of the York Glaziers Trust for the restoration of the vestry window at New College, Oxford. Rachel won one of our Foundation bursaries last year.
For outstanding craftsmanship displayed by a team – a team from William Anelay Ltd for new leadwork at the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle.
For individual merit – Keith Barley and Helen Whittaker of Barley Studio, Dunnington, for the Pilgrim Window in Beverley Minster.
- John Hukins and Malcolm Weatherall of Repair and Restoration, Malton, for restoration of the traditional roof of Norwood House, Beverley.
Susie Clark, photographic conservator and member of the Consortium’s Executive Committee, has recently returned from Saudi Arabia. She had been invited there to advise the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives in Riyadh on the conservation of its collection of historic photographs. The aim of the Foundation is to collect, preserve and make available the nation’s historic resources, and this of course includes photographic records of the country. The latter are relatively scarce so far as the 19th century is concerned, few photographers having ventured far beyond the country’s ports, but the Centre is seeking to acquire copies of relevant material located in other countries. Susie found there a well-informed and enthusiastic staff keen to achieve the highest possible standards, and eager therefore to take up her suggestions for better practice.
The stone-masonry section of York College’s Construction Skills Dept goes from strength. After being appointed last year as one of the country’s three Centres of Excellence for stone masonry training, thereby encouraging the Prince of Wales to come to York to do the formal opening, this year a teacher and a student both received further recognition of their high standards from the City and Guilds organisation. In the case of Kevin Calpin, for many years the leader of the teaching team, his certificate recognises his long-standing contribution to the development of skills in the stone-masonry craft. For James Dalton the recognition was for the outstanding quality of his work as a student. James’ work was illustrated in the portfolio he submitted for the Consortium’s Trophy and Prize for the College’s best craft student of his year. He was presented with the trophy and his £250 cheque by David Odgers, giver of this year’s John Shannon Conservation Lecture in the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.
At the Consortium’s AGM held in May in the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall Martin Stancliffe was duly elected to the Executive Committee and confirmed as its Chairman. Committee members Susie Clark, Jane Grenville, June Hargreaves and Geoff Holland were re-elected. The audited accounts for the year 2005/6 for the Consortium and its charitable Foundation were approved, both showing a positive outcome.
The AGM was followed, as has now become the custom, by the John Shannon Conservation Lecture. The latter is mounted jointly with the York Civic Trust. It was given by David Odgers, consultant conservator and previously Chief Executive of one of the country’s leading conservation contractors. He replaced the previously announced David Linford. Mr Odgers theme was the need for conservators, restorers and commissioning architects to spend sufficient time researching their projects to ensure that mistakes in subject matter, materials or methods are not made. He illustrated his talk with examples of such failings made in work completed.
Changes at the YAT
Significant changes are taking place at the York Archaeological Trust. On the human front Jim Spriggs, Head of the Trust’s Laboratories since the YAT was formed in 1972, is retiring to pursue his interests in this specialist field on a freelance basis. His place is being taken by Ian Panter who is moving from English Heritage. Ian had previously worked on secondment for the YAT, and will be known to many in the Consortium as “chief organiser” each year of English Heritage’s regional Open Days.
The Trust will be moving shortly from its offices in Ogleforth and its aging laboratory site off Marygate to St Antony’s Hall in Aldwark. The Hall is in the process of being completely refurbished by its new owner, the York Conservation Trust.gion. Maddy was previously regional head of English Nature in the New Forest. In welcoming her to York, we look forward to as positive relationship with her as we had with her predecessor, David Fraser, who gave the Consortium much help and support since its inception in 1998.
Royal Support for Minster Restoration
Each member of the Royal Family will be asked to “Sponsor a Stone” as part of York Minster’s restoration appeal. This pledge was made by the Duke of York during a flying visit to promote the appeal, when he carved his initial into a stone which he donated to the project, promising to persuade his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, to do the same. The “Sponsor a Stone” scheme will allow members of the public to purchase a new stone – at a cost of £600 each – to replace one of the existing crumbling stones in the Minster’s East Front. The Minster needs £23 million to pay for the restoration of the east Front, and another £7 million to safeguard the long-term future of its choir, library and educational activities. £500,000 has already been donated in cash and more than £2.5 million pledged since the Appeal was launched in March 2005.
Meanwhile the Minster’s Works Dept has been awarded £2,500 after being crowned the best small-sized employer offering practical learning opportunities to 14 to 25 year olds in the Yorkshire and Humber Region. A great accolade as the Minster takes on additional apprentices to support the restoration project.
Statue of George Hudson given the go-ahead
The City of York Council has given the go-ahead in principle for a statue of George Hudson, the city’s legendary Railway King. The council is now examining the best location for the statue, with options including the Station itself and the York Central development site behind the Station.
Lanstone Conservation has begun work on a £150,000 contract to restore the 160-foot spire of the Grade 1 listed Victorian church of St James at Baldersby near Thirsk. The repairs have been backed with an English Heritage grant of £122,000.
Request for Lottery funding for Fine Art Collection restoration and conservation
Gillian Walker (Conservator and Restorer of Easel Painting) is working with Wakefield Art Gallery on a major project to win funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and restore the greater part of the gallery’s Fine Art Collection. If the bid is successful, work will start in April and be completed in 2008, in time for the move to Wakefield’s new Hepworth development, the planned new home of the city’s museum and art gallery’s collections.
A very satisfying aspect of the project will be the recruitment of two newly qualified conservators to work with Gillian for the project’s duration. There are few such opportunities available for young conservators to gain a continuity of supervised experience and thereby build confidence in their own abilities. Are there any similar potential joint projects which might attract Lottery funding, where members might be able to provide post-training employment to young recruits to their craft or profession?
New Regional Director for English Heritage's Yorkshire Region
English Heritage has appointed Maddy Jago as its new Regional Director for the Yorkshire Region. Maddy was previously regional head of English Nature in the New Forest. In welcoming her to York, we look forward to as positive relationship with her as we had with her predecessor, David Fraser, who gave the Consortium much help and support since its inception in 1998.
Topp Marks for New York Memorial
Blacksmith Chris Topp is contributing to a memorial garden in New York to commemorate the 67 British people who died in the September 11 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centre. His firm has been commissioned by the British Memorial Garden Trust to make c.50 metres of steel railing for one side of the garden. An example of the garden, including a piece of the railing, was displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show, and the rest will be completed early next year. Chris describes it as “an unusual commission, and it’s great to be associated with something so prestigious”. The garden was designed by landscape architects Julian and Isabel Bannerman, and will include floral tributes, topiary, benches, and a sculpture symbolising unity between the British and American people.
Chris also has a commission to repair the main gates of the Houses of Parliament, damaged when a car ploughed into them.