Bank holiday visits to see the conservation of the Doddington Hall tapestries.
Image 1. Alice and Sophie at work on the ‘Bagpiper and Dancing Dog’ tapestry
Over Easter weekend we opened the doors of the tapestry conservation studio at the Heritage Skills Centre to the public to come and see the tapestries and the conservation work happening. People were able to see the tapestries framed up for conservation and see us working conservation stitching. The reverse of the tapestries could be seen through a mirror that showed the vibrant colours the tapestries once were and what the conservation stitching looks like on the back. They were also able to hear the history of the tapestries at Doddington Hall, the story of their travel to Belgium to be cleaned and ask questions about the treatment.
We really enjoyed sharing our work with everyone and thought it was great how interested everyone was. There were lots of really good questions and some funny guesses as to how old the tapestries are. There must be some very old grandparents out there as many mums and dads suggested that perhaps the tapestries were only a little bit older than grandma and granddad. The tapestries are almost 400 years old!
If you want to visit us at the Heritage Skills Centre, the next time we are open is the May bank holiday weekend, the 3rd -5th May, 2014. We’d love to see you.
For images and weekly updates on the conservation project, follow us on Instagram at conservation_at_doddington.
