Saintbury: Wall-paintings conserved

St Nicholas' Church, Saintbury, Gloucestershire

The 17th-century designs at St. Nicholas' Church, Saintbury are on all walls of the chancel but both the north and south walls had become wet and the dampness had penetrated the modern plaster layer with the potential to destroy the delicate wallpaintings. This year we have been working on the south wall and we discovered that large areas of the plaster on the wall were delaminating.

These areas were probably about 3-5 years from collapsing entirely and so it has been essential that we carried out this work to ensure the paintings survival. Our conservator on the project was Kalypso Kampani, who, working with a team of students, has now conserved and consolidated all the plasterwork and wall-paintings in the chancel. Now visitors to the church will be able to see the wallpaintings in all their glory and know that they are safe for the foreseeable future.