Layers in Time: Preserving Britain’s painted past

Emily Howe, Project Lead for the National Wall Paintings Survey at The Courtauld, explores the history of the survey.

In the autumn of 1933, Leeds City Art Gallery staged an exhibition of watercolours by Ernest William Tristram (1882-1952), then Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art. 

Tristram, who was notoriously far more interested in the Middle Ages than Modernism, spent the vast majority of his career travelling the country, recording the often fragmentary remnants of England’s medieval wall paintings. Through the 1930s and 40s, he made hundreds of meticulous copies of these schemes, each conveying his extraordinary ability to accurately capture not only a painting’s subject matter, but also its aesthetic and condition. Working in partnership with The Courtauld, and with the tireless assistance of Monica Bardswell, three gargantuan volumes ensued *1. Copiously illustrated, they remain – some 70 years on – the preeminent record of the nation’s mural heritage.  

In the decades following Tristram’s death, however, the absence of a central authority for the oversight of Britain’s wall paintings became increasingly apparent. Whilst the Church of England remained diligent in maintaining its own records, *2 the ambition to undertake a more joined-up survey of the condition of English wall paintings – including both ecclesiastical and secular sites – never came to fruition. *3  

In 1980, following a period of increasing concern about the plight of medieval mural art in this country, the Leverhulme Trust awarded The Courtauld a major grant to enable David Park to undertake a four-year-long ‘Survey of English Medieval Wall Paintings’. With the photographic services of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) at his disposal, it was hoped that the survey would provide a written and photographic record of all surviving wall paintings in England, upon which future studies and conservation programmes could be based.  

The survey evolved well beyond the scope of the original project to include non-medieval schemes of decoration at sites throughout the British Isles. Park worked tirelessly on it up until his retirement in 2018, while simultaneously establishing – with his colleague Sharon Cather – the country’s only postgraduate training programme dedicated exclusively to the conservation of wall paintings. *4 The survey evolved into a chronicle of wall painting history in Britain spanning a century, comprising not only conservation reports and images, but also carefully annotated extracts of published literature and previously unpublished research contributed by scholars in the field. Of particular interest is material bequeathed from the archives of pioneering wall painting conservators, including Tristram himself, the exquisitely illustrated research notes of renowned antiquarian Edward Croft-Murray, and Muriel Carrick’s detailed documentation of domestic decorative schemes. 

Long feted as a treasure trove of invaluable information, access to the archive was previously limited to those who were able to secure a visit in person. It became increasingly clear, however, that for the survey to achieve its potential, for it to inform the way we appreciate and conserve our wall paintings, this resource needed to be made much more widely available. This ambition became attainable in Spring 2022, when The Courtauld secured three major grants – from the Paul Mellon Centre, the Pilgrim Trust and the Marc Fitch Fund – towards the first phase of the National Wall Paintings Survey Project. This three-year initiative was created to fully catalogue and partially digitise the survey archive, making it publicly accessible through an interactive database. The overarching aim of the project was two-fold: to broaden engagement with our painted past across diverse new audiences and to inspire innovative research that would better inform successful conservation strategies. 

Digitising an archive of this type – which comprises not only images but also a wide variety of text-based material – is a colossal undertaking. The project has benefitted immeasurably from the support and insights of stakeholders from across the academic and heritage communities, as well as conservators working in private practice. *5 The survey comprises some 60 linear metres of files, organised geographically, by county, encompassing material pertaining to over 8,000 sites, many with multiple painting schemes. Our digitisation strategy has been informed by cross-sector consultation, affording us a better understanding of our audiences and the ways they wish to interact with the archive. These findings have shaped our approach in building the survey database, which is published using Memorix Maior, the same Spectrum-compliant collections management platform used to host The Courtauld’s online photographic archives. 

Based on consultation feedback and mindful of the resources available to us, we have initially prioritised digitisation of those sites for which we hold both conservation-related documentation and historical images. This is because this material seemed to have the greatest potential to be impactful in terms of informing more sustainable conservation practices. To date, we have successfully completed the digitisation of material for some 1,500 individual sites, work that has been undertaken in collaboration with an exceptionally dedicated team of volunteers, most with no previous affiliation to art history. Unwavering in their enthusiasm, they have undertaken digitisation following a detailed protocol, using a predetermined file-tree structure which emulates the physical organisation of the archive. Thanks to their commitment, we have successfully digitised around a fifth of the survey, including almost all of the UK’s cathedrals alongside many lesser-known schemes in country churches and domestic settings.  

The catalogue and associated assets have now been imported into their new online environment. Launched at the beginning of February, the survey sits alongside the Courtauld’s other online collections. Like the paper archive, the database is navigable by painting type and location, making it easy to find a specific known wall painting. Each site (usually a building) has an individual record page comprising geographical data alongside a description and date of its painting scheme(s), and a list of the types of information held. Where this material has already been digitised, there are hyperlinks to subfolders of digital content pertaining to the painting schemes. Users can virtually browse the folders of assets, and scrutinise individual documents or images of interest, using the zoom functions and text search capabilities, or they can choose to download items under the terms of a Creative Commons user agreement. 

For those who enjoy a more serendipitous or thematic approach to research, it is also possible to explore the archive through a ‘search’ page, using individual or combined terms of their choice, with the potential to refine their ‘finds’ using predetermined filters. For the first time, it is now possible to search the survey iconographically, or by date, and to map the physical distribution of selected sites. In due course, when the relevant data has been added, there will be the potential to map specific conservation interventions, enabling us to perceive not only trends in treatment but the hitherto unremarked interrelationships between them. It is a work in progress, but a journey with almost limitless destinations. Collaboration with a range of partners across the academic and heritage sectors underpins our research focus for the survey project. We are particularly interested in investigating those who pioneered the conservation of wall paintings in the UK and the ways in which approaches to their care have evolved over the past century. 

Looking forwards, we aspire to complete the remaining digitisation in a final major project phase and, building upon the valuable partnerships we have forged, to promote the survey as the principal national repository for documentation relating to British wall paintings. The creation of a digitised catalogue has already enabled us to interrogate the archive in exciting new ways, revealing information that will prove invaluable in informing how we can better care for our mural heritage. Earlier this year, working with colleagues at the Church of England, English Heritage and The Institute for Conservation, The Courtauld was delighted to host an interdisciplinary symposium, Records of Care. The event, proceedings of which are available online, was enthusiastically attended by almost 200 participants, from architects and building engineers to church wardens and volunteers, eager to share their knowledge and resources. 

It is our sincere hope that, as awareness of the archive continues to grow, the National Wall Paintings Survey will become an increasingly dynamic and collaborative space in which colleagues and individuals from all backgrounds can come together. We are especially keen to engage with new audiences, and are excited to be mounting a public exhibition which will showcase British wall paintings and their conservation in The Courtauld’s gallery in spring 2026. The survey project has afforded us the opportunity to develop rewarding partnerships with so many people who are involved and interested in the care of wall paintings in the UK. We are delighted to be joining with the Churches Conservation Trust as they work to safeguard our magnificent painted heritage through this year’s annual appeal.  

Footnotes

*1 E. W. Tristram, with W. G. Constable, English Medieval Wall Painting. The Twelfth Century (Pilgrim trust, 1944); E. W. Tristram, with M. Bardswell, English Medieval Wall Painting: The Thirteenth Centry (Pilgrim Trust, 1950); E. W. Tristram, with M. Bardswell and E. M. Tristram, eds., English Medieval Wall Paintings of the Fourteenth Century (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1955).

*2 F. C. Eeles, "The Care of English Churches", Ancient Monuments Society NS 1 (1953); 21-40, who charts the creation of the Central Council for the Care of Churches (in 1917) and the emergence of Diocesan Advisory Committees in the 1930s, with a Cathedrals Advisory Committee following sometime after, in 1949.

*3 See W. I Croome et al. The Conservation of English Wallpaintings, being a Report of a Committee set up by the Central Council for the Care of Churches and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (Central Council for the Care of Churches, 1959).

*4 https://courtauld.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/ma-conservation-of-wall-painting/, accessed 11/09/25.

*5 Advisory panel members include Prof. Alixe Bovey (Dean & deputy Director, The Courtauld), Tom Bilson (Head of Digital Media, The courtauld), Tobit Curteis (Tobit Curteis Associates), Dr John Goodall (Architectural Editor, Country Life), Tracy Manning (Cathedral & Church Buildings Division, Church of England), the late Prof. Austin Nevin (Former Head of Conservation, The Courtauld), Lisa Redlinski (Head of Library Services, The Courtauld), Dr Jane Spooner (Senior Lecturer in Wall Paintings, The Courtauld), and Sophie Steward (English Heritage).

The survey project team would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in contributing to the survey.  

Visit the National Wall Paintings Survey project page for more information:  

courtauld.ac.uk/research/researchseries/the-national-wall-paintings-survey 

Search the National Wall Paintings Survey database here: 

photocollections.courtauld.ac.uk/menu-item1/the-national-wall-paintings-survey 

Find out more about our upcoming exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery in spring 2026: 

courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/exh-the-painted-tower-conservation-in-context-at-longthorpe 

Read the proceedings of the Records of Care symposium: 

courtauld.ac.uk/research/researchseries/the-national-wall-paintings-survey/records-of-care-informing-approaches-to-the-conservation-of-britains-wall-paintings 

Watch the Records of Care symposium: 

youtu.be/RiF7bZjaELI