Rare examples of painted railings preserved at Bath Abbey

The conserved railingsThe Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Bath (Bath Abbey) was founded in the 7th century: originally as a convent and later becoming a monastery.

Monks fleeing reforms in France in the mid 10th century were given the church in Bath by King Edward I. During the early 12th century a building on a grander scale began to be built, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, with work taking around 50 years to complete.

The monks were later encouraged to adopt the rule of St Benedict, and that religious community remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, with the prior surrendering it to the Crown in January 1539. The building was sold to a Humphry Coles and stripped of much of its valuable materials, including glass, ironwork and lead. It was then left empty and began to decay.The building was sold on to a Matthew Colthurst in 1543, before his son gave it to the Corporation of Bath in 1572. Queen Elizabeth I was keen for the church to be restored to become the parish church of Bath, so in 1574 ordered that a national fund be established to pay for its repair and re-roofing.

Later, James Montague, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, paid £1,000 for a new timber roof to be built on the church nave.

James Montague

James Montague was born in Northamptonshire in 1568 to Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton, a landowner and politician. He studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge before becoming the first Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1596. By 1603 he had become Dean of the Chapter Royal, part of the royal household, and was a close friend of King James I. He was a Calvinist and introduced the King to several religious radicals. In 1603 he became Dean of Lichfield before quickly moving to be Dean of Worcester.

In 1608 James Montague was made Bishop of Bath and Wells and enthroned in Wells Cathedral. It is said that, while visiting the ruined abbey building in Bath, he took shelter in the nave during a thunderstorm. That subsequently led to him personally funding much of the repair works to the abbey building with the works being completed in 1611. Bishop Montague died in July 1618 and his body was interred in a fine alabaster tomb within the abbey nave.

Nicholas Johnson carved the effigy and the tomb was constructed by William Cure, a local stonemason. The tomb was surrounded by a set of simple wrought iron railings.

Montague tomb railings

The iron railings around the tomb consist of four large square corner posts with tenons that pass through flat iron base rails laid onto stone. The iron base rails have round holes set at regular intervals along their length.

Square palings, set on a diamond, pass through a top rail and sit down into the round holes in the base rails. Each paling has a spiked finial with a pair of forged collars at their base. The top rails are angular in shape with the outer vertical face decorated with a simple connected semi-circle pattern.

At the centre of each long railing side is a further post to help support the railings. Components are held together by pins and dowels. Each corner post is topped by a decorative flag staff with a lower barley twist section, forged ‘C’ sections and itself topped with a simple iron cross. A painted iron flag sits below each cross depicting one of two family crests.

The post at the centre of each long railing side extends above the railings and is topped by a circular plaque in the form of a belt painted with the words from the Order of the Garter, surrounding the family crest. The railings are finished in a dark wine red colour.

(L-R) Cleaning the paint surface; the consolidated rails; and the Garter plaque before treatment

Conservation works

Works to the stone flooring around the Montague tomb necessitated the dismantling and removal of the iron railings. They were transferred to a store off site while the stoneworks were undertaken. The abbey was looking to better understand the colour history of the railings, with a view to them being redecorated before they were re-instated around the tomb.

Peter Meehan ACR, of the Historic Metalwork Conservation Company, was appointed by Frank Mowat, the abbey’s executive director, to take a number of paint samples and examine them to understand the colour history. Examination of 16 paint samples taken from various components revealed that the tomb railings had only ever had one paint system applied since fabrication and, although showing evidence of degradation, it was still present on most of the ironwork components.

It is very unusual for such an early paint scheme, dating from the early 17th century, to survive, likely because of its location within the abbey church where there is little exposure to damaging UV light, moisture and significant changes in temperature.

The paint system consisted of a layer of a carbon black paint applied by the blacksmith. That was followed by a red lead primer layer, pinky intermediate coat and two wine red topcoats, topped with a resin-based varnish layer – seen to fluoresce under UV light – to give the surface a glossy appearance.

It was therefore felt to be important that the paint finish be preserved if possible and that was the recommendation made to the abbey. The DAC agreed that the paint should be conserved rather than replaced, so a suitable specification was prepared for the appointed contractor to carry out.

Dorothea Restorations was appointed as the contractor, originally to restore the railing panels and re-fit them around the tomb. However, with the change in approach to ensure the original paint layers were conserved, Peter Meehan ACR was retained to provide conservation treatment advice. The railing parts were transferred to Dorothea’s workshop where a team led by Ruan Bester ACR sorted the components prior to treatment.

Examination of the base rails showed that the surviving paint layers were in the poorest condition, with large areas badly degraded and lost and patches of rust present in many places. As the paint layers were mostly lead-based, it was decided that the safest and best option would be to clean and repaint those rails. The paint layers on the other components were in a much better condition but with some minor losses to the red topcoats, exposing the red lead primer layer beneath.

The surfaces of the components were carefully cleaned by a Dorothea team member wearing suitable PPE, to remove layers of dust, dirt and other residues, using very fine 3M Scotchbrite hand pads. The paint layers were consolidated using a solution of Paraloid B67 (a methacrylate resin) dissolved in white spirit. That acted to stabilise the paint, revive the original red colour and give the surface a glossy finish.

A small number of components were broken. They were repaired using small painted iron plates riveted into place to match previous repairs. The base rails were repainted using a modern alkyd paint system colour matched to the original finish.

Repaired flag detail (left) and re-assembling the railings (right)

Dorothea Restorations’ team installed the conserved railings back around Bishop Montague’s tomb over several days, having to drill some fixing holes for the posts into the new stonework. After laying the base rail and fitting the posts, the railings were carefully re-assembled. They were then finished with an application of a microcrystalline-based wax coating applied using soft cloths. Peter Meehan ACR was asked by the abbey to inspect the re-instated railings to confirm they were conserved as specified. The team at Dorothea Restorations had done an excellent job conserving the surviving original paint finish on these important early wrought-iron railings, with their work ensuring they will last for many years to come.

For further information visit www.hm-cc.uk