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St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham photo: Joe Martin
Restoring Pugin Project at Nottingham Cathedral gets £1.69 million from Heritage Fund
We are pleased to share the news regarding the Grade II* listed Nottingham Cathedral, aka Pugin’s St Barnabas, of 1841. The Cathedral has been awarded a £1.69 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to augment its £2.3 million Restoring Pugin project, aimed at restoring the Cathedral’s east end to its former glory and engaging over 20,000 people from across the City in this exciting work. A press release stated the following:
“At the heart of the Nottingham Cathedral Restoring Pugin Project is the restoration of the three chapels and ambulatories at the east end of the Cathedral back to Pugin’s original vision and design. Hidden beneath layers of ageing grey paint, expert conservators Cliveden Conservation have found evidence of Pugin’s original decorative scheme. From starry ceilings to floral motifs, emblems, texts and foliage, this is a rare and significant find. Recreating the original stencils and using authentic pigments these vibrant designs, rich colours and gold leaf will be fully restored….
In addition, the Project will offer a number of opportunities for heritage training and skills development for people of all ages, from school children to older volunteers. This will include the roll out of an innovative video game, Pugin’s Revival, aimed at promoting careers within the heritage sector for young people in schools across the region….
2025 marks 175 years since the large Catholic church Pugin designed in Nottingham was elevated to Cathedral status. In this significant anniversary year, Nottingham Cathedral is deeply grateful to The National Heritage Lottery Fund and to Lottery players for this award of funding which will see the Cathedral restored to its former glory.”
We are pleased to share the news regarding the Grade II* listed Nottingham Cathedral, aka Pugin’s St Barnabas, of 1841. The Cathedral has been awarded a £1.69 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to augment its £2.3 million Restoring Pugin project, aimed at restoring the Cathedral’s east end to its former glory and engaging over 20,000 people from across the City in this exciting work. A press release stated the following:
“At the heart of the Nottingham Cathedral Restoring Pugin Project is the restoration of the three chapels and ambulatories at the east end of the Cathedral back to Pugin’s original vision and design. Hidden beneath layers of ageing grey paint, expert conservators Cliveden Conservation have found evidence of Pugin’s original decorative scheme. From starry ceilings to floral motifs, emblems, texts and foliage, this is a rare and significant find. Recreating the original stencils and using authentic pigments these vibrant designs, rich colours and gold leaf will be fully restored….
In addition, the Project will offer a number of opportunities for heritage training and skills development for people of all ages, from school children to older volunteers. This will include the roll out of an innovative video game, Pugin’s Revival, aimed at promoting careers within the heritage sector for young people in schools across the region….
2025 marks 175 years since the large Catholic church Pugin designed in Nottingham was elevated to Cathedral status. In this significant anniversary year, Nottingham Cathedral is deeply grateful to The National Heritage Lottery Fund and to Lottery players for this award of funding which will see the Cathedral restored to its former glory.”
Society visit to Makers of Modern Gothic: AWN Pugin and John Hardman Jr at the V&A
On Tuesday, 8th April, new events secretery Dr Peter Lindfield led a tour of the Makers of Modern Gothic: AWN Pugin and John Hardman Jr exhibition at the V&A with an emphasis on the works of Pugin and Hardman. Assisted by Max Donnelly and Angus Patterson, the group examined the museum's new acquisitions of Pugin's drawings for both metalworker John Hardman and builder George Myers, which included designs for the Houses of Parliament and The Grange amonst others.
What made the trip so special for society members was not only the personalised attention from the guides, but also the chance to handle objects. If you would like the chance to experience such first-hand insights, consider becoming a member if you haven't already, and view photos from the event on our Instagram page.
On Tuesday, 8th April, new events secretery Dr Peter Lindfield led a tour of the Makers of Modern Gothic: AWN Pugin and John Hardman Jr exhibition at the V&A with an emphasis on the works of Pugin and Hardman. Assisted by Max Donnelly and Angus Patterson, the group examined the museum's new acquisitions of Pugin's drawings for both metalworker John Hardman and builder George Myers, which included designs for the Houses of Parliament and The Grange amonst others.
What made the trip so special for society members was not only the personalised attention from the guides, but also the chance to handle objects. If you would like the chance to experience such first-hand insights, consider becoming a member if you haven't already, and view photos from the event on our Instagram page.
The caption is James Joll (extreme left) and Rosemary Hill (extreme right) propose a toast to Pugin with members of the Pugin Society: Dr Mike Galloway, chair, (back left) , Professor Julia Twigg, events organiser, (silver necklace), patron Lady Wedgwood (pink coat) and secretary David Bushell (fawn jacket)
Photo: George Garbutt |
Thirty Years on: How the V&A’s 1994 exhibition established Pugin’s reputation. A curator looks back
by Joanna Lyall, September 14, 2024 “I wanted to bring him back and establish his reputation as a shaper of modern Britain,” said Paul Atterbury, curator of Pugin A Gothic Passion, the V&A’s magisterial 1994 exhibition. |
Speaking at a celebration on September 11th, with writer and historian Rosemary Hill, in St Augustine’s, Pugin’s church next to The Grange, his home in Ramsgate, Kent, Atterbury said: “I also wanted to save The Grange and put it somehow into the public domain.”
Three years in preparation and co-curated with Clive Wainwright, senior research fellow in 19th century studies at the V&A, the exhibition ran from June to September 1994 and attracted more than 74,000 visitors, and wide press coverage.
It was followed by a Pugin exhibition in Kent and, in 1995-1996 AWN Pugin: Master of the Gothic Revival at the Bard Center New York, which was also curated by Atterbury, a specialist in 19th and 20th century art and design who has been part of BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow team of experts for 34 years.
In discussion with Rosemary Hill, author of the prize-winning biography, God’s Architect - Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain Paul said the exhibition had been very fortunate to have the architect John Outram as designer. “He had never done an exhibition before but once I said ‘an exhibition is temporary architecture’ he said ‘oh now I can do it’,” Paul recalled.
“We wanted high Victorianism and he had a wonderful sense of colour,” he said. He brought an imaginative approach to potential problems. To avoid the cost of reproducing Pugin’s wallpapers he simply used the office photocopier. “So every column was covered in A4 sheets.”
“He was very quirky, very opinionated and always sketching. He would have got on well with Pugin,” said Atterbury.
Atterbury said some 50 donors had lent objects to the exhibition. St Mary’s in West Tofts, Norfolk, agreed to lend its screen which had to be taken down and reassembled in the museum at a cost of £10,000. Catholic Churches had been particularly generous lending material, he said. Pews came from St Giles, Cheadle and a cast had been taken of Pugin’s tomb in St Augustine’s.
“At one point Linda Lloyd-Jones, head of exhibitions, said ‘We have just noticed you are building a Catholic Church in the heart of the V&A - is this a good idea?’ and I just said yes,” he recalled.
“It was a great experience bringing Pugin back to life and giving him international stature, and we brought the exhibition in on time, and on budget.
“I felt I got to know Pugin very well. He was a great manager of teams and Crace, Minton and Hardman were really close friends. He inspired people to do things they thought they couldn’t,” he said.
A review in The Art Newspaper (June 1 1994) praised the exhibition for rediscovering “Pugin’s crucial ideological legacy…. which descended through the Arts and Crafts movement”. Under the headline “Pugin, founder of modernism, in a riot of polychromy at the V&A” the review also praised the use of colour in the presentation of Pugin’s designs, “The visitor to the exhibition walks through a graveyard and passes from cool Georgian colours into a re-creation of half a Pugin church,” it noted.
The establishment of Pugin’s reputation led to other developments such as the founding , in 1995, of the Pugin Society and the restoration of The Grange and St Augustine’s, Rosemary Hill pointed out.“I have seen this church blossom and be treasured more and more,” she said.
Recalling 15 years work on her biography, which was published in 2007, and won four major awards, she said:“I felt I had set out in a rowing boat on the Serpentine and found myself in the Atlantic.”
She read more than 2,000 of Pugin’s letters as part of her research and had not come across any sign of meanness on his part. “ He was a man of integrity, warmth and generosity. I always liked him and always respected him,” she said.
The audience included Sarah Houle, a descendant of Pugin and several founder members of the Pugin Society.
At a champagne reception in the Cartoon Room of the Grange, following the talk, James Joll, who generously funded the event, proposed a toast to Pugin. He is a former director of publishers Pearson PLC, which sponsored the 1994 exhibition.
Three years in preparation and co-curated with Clive Wainwright, senior research fellow in 19th century studies at the V&A, the exhibition ran from June to September 1994 and attracted more than 74,000 visitors, and wide press coverage.
It was followed by a Pugin exhibition in Kent and, in 1995-1996 AWN Pugin: Master of the Gothic Revival at the Bard Center New York, which was also curated by Atterbury, a specialist in 19th and 20th century art and design who has been part of BBC1’s Antiques Roadshow team of experts for 34 years.
In discussion with Rosemary Hill, author of the prize-winning biography, God’s Architect - Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain Paul said the exhibition had been very fortunate to have the architect John Outram as designer. “He had never done an exhibition before but once I said ‘an exhibition is temporary architecture’ he said ‘oh now I can do it’,” Paul recalled.
“We wanted high Victorianism and he had a wonderful sense of colour,” he said. He brought an imaginative approach to potential problems. To avoid the cost of reproducing Pugin’s wallpapers he simply used the office photocopier. “So every column was covered in A4 sheets.”
“He was very quirky, very opinionated and always sketching. He would have got on well with Pugin,” said Atterbury.
Atterbury said some 50 donors had lent objects to the exhibition. St Mary’s in West Tofts, Norfolk, agreed to lend its screen which had to be taken down and reassembled in the museum at a cost of £10,000. Catholic Churches had been particularly generous lending material, he said. Pews came from St Giles, Cheadle and a cast had been taken of Pugin’s tomb in St Augustine’s.
“At one point Linda Lloyd-Jones, head of exhibitions, said ‘We have just noticed you are building a Catholic Church in the heart of the V&A - is this a good idea?’ and I just said yes,” he recalled.
“It was a great experience bringing Pugin back to life and giving him international stature, and we brought the exhibition in on time, and on budget.
“I felt I got to know Pugin very well. He was a great manager of teams and Crace, Minton and Hardman were really close friends. He inspired people to do things they thought they couldn’t,” he said.
A review in The Art Newspaper (June 1 1994) praised the exhibition for rediscovering “Pugin’s crucial ideological legacy…. which descended through the Arts and Crafts movement”. Under the headline “Pugin, founder of modernism, in a riot of polychromy at the V&A” the review also praised the use of colour in the presentation of Pugin’s designs, “The visitor to the exhibition walks through a graveyard and passes from cool Georgian colours into a re-creation of half a Pugin church,” it noted.
The establishment of Pugin’s reputation led to other developments such as the founding , in 1995, of the Pugin Society and the restoration of The Grange and St Augustine’s, Rosemary Hill pointed out.“I have seen this church blossom and be treasured more and more,” she said.
Recalling 15 years work on her biography, which was published in 2007, and won four major awards, she said:“I felt I had set out in a rowing boat on the Serpentine and found myself in the Atlantic.”
She read more than 2,000 of Pugin’s letters as part of her research and had not come across any sign of meanness on his part. “ He was a man of integrity, warmth and generosity. I always liked him and always respected him,” she said.
The audience included Sarah Houle, a descendant of Pugin and several founder members of the Pugin Society.
At a champagne reception in the Cartoon Room of the Grange, following the talk, James Joll, who generously funded the event, proposed a toast to Pugin. He is a former director of publishers Pearson PLC, which sponsored the 1994 exhibition.
St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham photo: Joe Martin
Major restoration of St Barnabas, Nottingham
by Joanna Lyall, June 26, 2024
A major restoration project has been launched at St Barnabas, Nottingham’s Catholic cathedral, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Designed by AWN Pugin St Barnabas was completed in 1844, at a cost of £20,000, of which £7,000 was provided by the Earl of Shrewsbury. Pugin envisaged it would be “the richest thing attempted … three times the solemnity of St George’s …- or Birmingham” Now grade-II* listed the building has undergone several redecorations, and in 1962 a major reordering which included white overpainting. Nikolaus Pevsner in Nottinghamshire (The Buildings of England) said: “The whole effect could hardly be further from the richness and decorative atmosphere that Pugin intended.”
In September 2022 the cathedral was awarded £277,558 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore some of Pugin’s design work at the East end of the cathedral. A further delivery grant of £524,858 is expected.
Restoring Pugin is led by the cathedral in partnership with Nottingham Trent University and Culture Syndicated CIC, a Nottingham community enterprise aimed at helping young people start careers in heritage. The project is now in an initial 12-month research phase and it is envisaged that Pugin’s decoration will be restored to the east end in 2025.
Project manager, Jane Hellings said: “Our conservators have completed six months of meticulous work on 60 ‘windows’ or squares. scraping away layers of paint. It has uncovered many of the original designs by Pugin.”
The restoration comprises: St Hugh’s chapel, the Unity chapel and the Lady chapel and ambulatories in the east of the cathedral.
by Joanna Lyall, June 26, 2024
A major restoration project has been launched at St Barnabas, Nottingham’s Catholic cathedral, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Designed by AWN Pugin St Barnabas was completed in 1844, at a cost of £20,000, of which £7,000 was provided by the Earl of Shrewsbury. Pugin envisaged it would be “the richest thing attempted … three times the solemnity of St George’s …- or Birmingham” Now grade-II* listed the building has undergone several redecorations, and in 1962 a major reordering which included white overpainting. Nikolaus Pevsner in Nottinghamshire (The Buildings of England) said: “The whole effect could hardly be further from the richness and decorative atmosphere that Pugin intended.”
In September 2022 the cathedral was awarded £277,558 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore some of Pugin’s design work at the East end of the cathedral. A further delivery grant of £524,858 is expected.
Restoring Pugin is led by the cathedral in partnership with Nottingham Trent University and Culture Syndicated CIC, a Nottingham community enterprise aimed at helping young people start careers in heritage. The project is now in an initial 12-month research phase and it is envisaged that Pugin’s decoration will be restored to the east end in 2025.
Project manager, Jane Hellings said: “Our conservators have completed six months of meticulous work on 60 ‘windows’ or squares. scraping away layers of paint. It has uncovered many of the original designs by Pugin.”
The restoration comprises: St Hugh’s chapel, the Unity chapel and the Lady chapel and ambulatories in the east of the cathedral.
Blassed sacrament chapel with Puginesque decoration by Elphege Pippet c1934
photo: Joe Martin
Nottingham Trent University has placed 12 sensors round the cathedral to monitor damp and humidity across the year. There is a problem of damp rising at the bases of columns and it is hoped to find a solution to this problem before the start of the paint restoration. Nottingham Civic Society has given £15,000 towards the repair of the roofs in the East End chapels.
Dean of the cathedral, Malachy Brett, who trained for the priesthood at Oscott seminary, Birmingham, where AWN Pugin taught as Professor of Ecclesiastical Antiquities, said he was delighted with the restoration project. “`Not only will we be able to restore some of Pugin’s magnificent original design work to the Cathedral but also create opportunities for young people to engage in heritage and conservation work.”
The Cliveden Conservation team includes two trainee paint conservators: Mary Scott, a recent graduate of the MA Conservation of Fine Art at Northumbria University and Emily Bird, who studied for an MA in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Lincoln.
At a study day on the project, held at the cathedral on June 1, Ana Longreira, senior conservator with Cliveden Conservation, said six layers of paint had been removed to discover Pugin’s original decorative scheme. The materials and varnishes used in each layer had been recorded, she said. Ana previously worked on conservation of Pugin’s Drummond Chapel in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Albury, Surrey.
Nottingham Trent University’s department of Architecture, Built Environment and Planning is developing a digital game aimed at making 12-17 year olds aware of environmental issues in the Cathedral, such as temperature, humidity and air pollution.
The consecration ceremony for the cathedral in August 1844 was attended by 15 bishops and 100 priests and the Illustrated London News described the building as “the largest Catholic Church completed in this country since the reformation”
St Barnabas was where author Graham Greene was received into the Catholic faith in February 1926. Aged 21 and newly down from Oxford University, he was working as unpaid sub-editor on The Nottingham Journal.
Dean of the cathedral, Malachy Brett, who trained for the priesthood at Oscott seminary, Birmingham, where AWN Pugin taught as Professor of Ecclesiastical Antiquities, said he was delighted with the restoration project. “`Not only will we be able to restore some of Pugin’s magnificent original design work to the Cathedral but also create opportunities for young people to engage in heritage and conservation work.”
The Cliveden Conservation team includes two trainee paint conservators: Mary Scott, a recent graduate of the MA Conservation of Fine Art at Northumbria University and Emily Bird, who studied for an MA in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Lincoln.
At a study day on the project, held at the cathedral on June 1, Ana Longreira, senior conservator with Cliveden Conservation, said six layers of paint had been removed to discover Pugin’s original decorative scheme. The materials and varnishes used in each layer had been recorded, she said. Ana previously worked on conservation of Pugin’s Drummond Chapel in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Albury, Surrey.
Nottingham Trent University’s department of Architecture, Built Environment and Planning is developing a digital game aimed at making 12-17 year olds aware of environmental issues in the Cathedral, such as temperature, humidity and air pollution.
The consecration ceremony for the cathedral in August 1844 was attended by 15 bishops and 100 priests and the Illustrated London News described the building as “the largest Catholic Church completed in this country since the reformation”
St Barnabas was where author Graham Greene was received into the Catholic faith in February 1926. Aged 21 and newly down from Oxford University, he was working as unpaid sub-editor on The Nottingham Journal.
3 layers of wall paint, earliest scheme
photo: Cliveden Conservation |
Ana Longreira, Cliveden Consevation, close up
photo: Diocese of Nottingham |
Ceiling stars, earliest scheme below, later (darker) Victorian scheme above
photo: Cliveden Conservation |
