Doddington Hall Tapestries

Part of the Historic Houses Foundation’s grant capability is dedicated to the restoration of works of art in historic houses open to the public.  An initial 3 month funding phase by the Historic Houses Foundation has seen the newly restored tapestry-hung bedrooms again open to the public at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire.

Georgian Shabby-Chic

In 1762, John Hussey Delaval redecorated the bedrooms at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire, an Elizabethan house built for the Tailor family by architect Robert Smythson. Delaval re-used a series of tapestries woven in Belgium about 1620 which depicted rural scenes and scenes from the Trojan Wars. The old tapestries were cut to fit and nailed to the walls. If this sounds like vandalism to us, these tapestries were ‘off the peg’ room decoration which were probably not highly valued at the time. For us today, their appeal is that these less expensive tapestries rarely survive into the 21st century.

Specialist Conservation Care

In 2014, after 252 years on the wall, the tapestries were taken down for cleaning, a project partly funded by the Historic Houses Foundation. The tapestries were taken off the walls on rollers. They were photographed, measured and then vacuumed to removed dirt and debris. The weakest areas were supported with conservation net in preparation for wet cleaning. They were then covered in tissue paper and rolled around another tube and wrapped for transport. They then travelled to Amsterdam for specialist conservation cleaning. On their return, the cleaned tapestries were sent to the Heritage Skills Centre at Lincoln Castle, where conservators stabilised worn and damaged areas and carefully lined the tapestries with linen scrim.

Just the start

Five and a half years later, the tapestries were rehung in their original positions but their removal revealed how different sections of tapestry had been cut and jigsawed together both to fit the rooms and for decorative effect but sometimes with little regard to the story they told. The tapestry restoration itself was viewed by visitors as conservators worked on them in the drawing room at Doddington.  The project led to the establishment in 2006 of the Doddington Conservation Charity which continues to raise funds for the restoration of works of art and for the conservation of the environment.