Brought to light from a black out

Repairs and walls at St Martin's Church, Colchester

St Martin's Church was vested with us in 1996 – 43 years after closing.

It was used by a theatre from 1957 until 1987, when it became structurally unsafe to use partly owing to lack of maintenance.

 

 

Grim gift

Once closed, further serious deterioration set in from water penetration as a result of defective valley gutters and roofing; therefore when it came to us, it was extensively decayed… and painted black inside from its theatre days


Once vested with us, we started a repair programme, which included:

Interior:

• Cleaning and conserving the monuments and wallpaintings
• Cleaning and shelter-coating the carved masonry
• Lime-washing the whole interior in an off white colour
• Providing a tea-point and sanitary facilities, with wheelchair access from street to chancel
• Repairing and re-cladding the vestry roof, walls and adjoining transept sealed arch

Exterior:

• Re-pointing the walls
• Putting in new drainage
• Minor re-roofing
• Maintaining with minor repairs the rainwater goods

Great revelations

In 1991, during repairs before our time, fragments of wallpaintings were discovered upon the removal of multiple layers of paint. The fragments showed wallpaintings from early 16th-and late 19th-centuries. Evidence shows that there was an unusually generous budget for this Medieval parish church.

 
In 2000, we carried out a condition survey of the wallpaintings – paying particular attention to the uncovered Doom painting on the chancel arch. It was considered best to leave it covered due to the risk of damage the Doom may suffer in the process. 

We did, however, slightly extend the already visible fragments of the Damned scene on the south side to reveal further details and uncovered exciting new discoveries around the Saved scene on the north side of the arch.

Early 16th-century decoration:

• Valuable blue pigment (lapis lazuli) from Afghanistan
• Remains of an original russet paint scheme
• A small lozenge of gold leaf
• Doom painting above the chancel arch with a rare Heaven painting to the side

Later 19th-century decoration:

• A simple stencilled green leaf pattern
• Red ochre with a black dado divided by a black and white chevron pattern

By 2003, the repairs were complete and the church open once again. The whole project cost around £560,000 and was funded in part by Heritage Lottery Fund

Awarded with a little help from our friends

The local community were so please with the results that they approached the Colchester Civic Society and requested that it be considered for an award. And later in 2003, we proudly won one.

View certificate

Project team

CCT Conservation Manager: Brian Clark
Architect: Henry Freeland at Freeland Rees Roberts Architects
Conservator: Paine and Stewart
Contractors: Cubitt Theobald Ltd and Fairhaven & Woods

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