st nicholas parish church chiswick - eastern boundary wall...

Taylor Pearce Limited Chiswick Church memorial stone Completion report 5/10/16

Taylor Pearce Limited, Fishers Court, Besson Street, London SE14 5AS Tel: 020 7252 9800

St Nicholas Parish Church Chiswick -

Eastern boundary wall memorial stone

Conservation Treatment Report

Object:

A rectangular memorial stone with incised inscription dating from 1623 set within an ashlar wall

Dimensions:

Panel: 0.81m x 0.55m

Wall: 2.10m x 1.14m

Condition:

the wall, coping and inscription panel were all heavily soiled by pollution and organic

deposits (photo 1)

the central area of lettering was severely affected by historic water runoff with some letters

barely legible and others completely lost through surface erosion (photo 2)

some areas of the wall had been affected by copper staining caused by water runoff from

the copper roof

areas of ferrous staining (photo 3) had been caused by an old iron fixture (now removed);

evidence of old fixing holes remain on the wall and inscription panel (photo 8)


Conservation Treatment:

Site set up:

barriers were employed to protect the working area whilst maintaining full vehicular access

at all times

water was taken from a tap close to the Vestry door

power was supplied by a portable generator

Cleaning:

the inscription panel, coping, wall and granite bollards were cleaned using a ThermaTech

steam cleaner (145 °C at 50-70 bar) (photo 4)

further cleaning to reduce and remove sulphation soiling to the inscription and wall was

carried out by the application of 5 no. ammonium carbonate poultices (photo 5)

after removal of each poultice, the surface was carefully scrubbed using a stiff non-ferrous

brush followed by rinsing with the ThermaTech

the poultices also reduced the copper and iron staining (photos 6 & 7)

Re-carving:

individual letters were carefully recut as required to improve the overall legibility of the

inscription (photo 9)

each letter was given a wash application of acrylic paint to improve legibility and to soften

the effect of the newly carved letters (photo 10)

due to the severe erosion of areas of the surface, there was no clear evidence of the original

incised form of the ampersands – no attempt was made to recut these and they were simply

painted onto the surface with an acrylic paint (photo 11)

the acrylic paint was a mix of Payne’s Gray & Titanium White

Repointing:

open joints in the wall and around the panel were raked out and re-pointed with a lime

mortar (photo 12)

the following mortar mix was used:

Natural Hydraulic Lime (NHL 3.5) 1

washed sharp sand 2

Portland stone dust ½

brick dust (for colour) <5 %


Photographic record:

Photo 1: before conservation

Photo 2: surface of panel


Photo 3: iron staining

Photo 4: cleaning using ThermaTech system


Photo 5: poultice application

Photo 6: panel after cleaning & before re-carving of letters


Photo 7: panel after cleaning showing extent of surface erosion

Photo 8: old fixing holes


Photo 9: re-cutting of incised letters

Photo 10: inscription after re-cutting & application of acrylic wash


Photo 11: painted ampersand

Photo 12: repointing joints


Photo 13: general view

Photo 14: before Photo 15: after

The conservation work was undertaken June/July 2016 by Angus Lawrence and Sam Aldis of Taylor

Pearce Limited. The letters were recut by Philip Surey.

Angus Lawrence ACR Taylor Pearce Limited 5/10/16

st nicholas parish church chiswick - eastern boundary wall...

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