The West Horsley Place team are delighted that work to stabilise the Geraldine ceiling, which we believe to be the oldest plasterwork ceiling in the country, is now finished.
At over 470 years old, the Geraldine ceiling was in urgent need of specialist care and attention. In recent years it was constantly being supported by steel props and low density insulation panels to prevent further damage.
West Horsley Place employed Gaches Plastering to secure the plaster to the timbers above and consolidate areas of damage.
Gaches are specialists in historical plasterwork and have over 40 years of experience. They worked with a range of techniques that come together across the ceiling to stabilise it in its current position:
They replaced the missing plaster keys from above with a new mortar. Plaster keys are small pieces of plaster that come through the gaps in the laths that the ceiling is attached to
In places where the ceiling was very loose, they secured it to the timber structure above
And in places where the timber structure was no longer there or the ceiling was too fragile, they wove a steel wire through a hole in the structure and attached those wires to steel banding on top
Once those the methods worked together to stabilise the ceiling, they got to work carefully filling in the cracks, holes and other impairments with a solution of lime and chalk.
After Gaches has completed stabilising the ceiling, Claudia Fiocchetti, a conservator of wall paintings and stone, added the beautiful finishing touches. She decorated areas which had been replastered and toned them in with the historic material and touched up paintwork. West Horsley Place also employed Simon Goddard for their expertise in historic building practises, project management and material selection.
We would like to thank the following organisations for their support. The Wolfson Foundation have awarded us a grant of £50,700, part of which will support this project (the grant will also support the repair and cleaning of the damask silk that lines the Red Drawing Room on the first floor of the Manor House). The Pilgrim Trust have awarded us £25,000 towards the costs and we have received a further £33,000 from a charitable trust and individual donor who wish to remain anonymous. Due to their generous support, the important work to stabilise the ceiling has been completed. See the ceiling on one of the Open Days.
For more information about how this was funded and about other restoration work, please follow this link.
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