Doddington Tapestries

An old map of Doddington Hall and Gardens.
The Hall was started in 1595 and the architect was Robert Smythson
Taken from Doddington website.

Whilst I was doing A Creative Approach I wrote a piece about the Doddington Tapestries. You can see it at:

http://iburkitt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/part-3-research-point.html

The tapestries (from the 17th century) were taken from the walls and sent back to their birthplace Belgium, for cleaning.  See www.doddingtonhall.com for more history.

I took my work on the tapestries as far as I could at the time.  There was a 3 year wait until funding was available for the conservation work to begin.  That is now underway and this is a little about it.

The tapestries have been set up in the foyer of the newly built Heritage Skills Centre at Lincoln Castle.  They are mounted on linen on two huge frames which were given to the project by Hatfield House who were going to dispose of them.

It was a steep learning curve; the grain of the fabric has to be straight on both the linen and the tapestry or when it is put back on the walls it will twist.

I have visited the project twice and been very impressed by the thinking behind the work.  This is a pretty lengthy website address but there's lots of interesting detail and pictures of how the work is progressing.  I would urge you to have a look.

http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/visiting/historic-buildings/lincoln-castle/heritage-skills-centre/doddington-hall-tapestries-blog/doddington-hall-tapestries-blog-(part-1)/121013.article

These pictures are taken from a Doddington Hall publicity leaflet.

You can just see red running stitches at 20cm intervals along the length of the tapestry and this is the area the conservators work within.  When the area is complete the tapestry is rolled on.

Up close

Another worthwhile site to visit is

http://nttextileconservationstudio.wordpress.com/

This site is about the conservation of tapestries but the bit I've linked to is a digital representation of how and why the colours fade over time.  The tapestry referred to is at Hardwick Hall where Bess of Hardwick made her fortune by marrying well (several times) and dealing in tapestries.  Fascinating.