The Sanctuay Project

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St Mary de Crypt is a Grade 1 listed church and amongst its many treasures are very rare wall paintings. Situated up by the high altar in the Sanctuary is a large oil on stone painting of the Adoration of the Magi believed to have been painted in the 1530’s.

 

Opposite is another earlier painting which is much damaged. Below the Adoration are late mediaeval figurative paintings.

Heritage Lottery have awarded us a development grant to enable us to investigate the conservation needs of these rare and important paintings.

 

Specialist conservators are undertaking paint analysis and other investigative works to understand as much as possible about the paintings: chemical composition of the oil paints, application techniques and possible layering of paint.

 

The environment within the church is being analysed to understand how light and atmospheric conditions are affecting the paintings. Once this is understood a conservation plan can be drawn up to help conserve the paintings.

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The Sanctuary projects hope to undertake all necessary conservation work to stabilise the paintings, undertake research to better understand why they were painted and by whom and to better understand their significance. The Sanctuary area will be interpreted to help visitors interactive with and appreciate the paintings. There will also be events such as workshops, seminars, talks and concerts. Schools will be involved as we hope to hold an exhibition of their thoughts about the Adoration.

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The Heritage Lottery has been very generous in its development grant, but we need to raise £90,000 in match funding for the Delivery Phase of this project.