Hugh Harrison Conservation - Surveys of Significance for Grant and Faculty Applications, Consultancy

Surveys and Consultancy

Surveys of Significance for Grant and Faculty Applications

With more than 40 years’ experience of caring for historic woodwork, our practical and academic knowledge and understanding of historic timber furnishings and construction is second to none. This, coupled with our ability to accurately measure, draw and photograph the most complicated work, allows us to produce extremely thorough reports. Our huge photographic archive and library resource enables us to analyse the significance of any historic timber by comparative methods to establish its rarity, and to understand its importance in terms of its heritage and cultural context. The gallery on this page includes an overview of surveys carried out in Manchester Cathedral, St Cadoc’s Church, Llancarfan, Glamorgan, St Andrew’s Church, Slaidburn, Lancashire and a private house in Devon.

Consultancy

Our consultancy service is used by individual and corporate clients, architects and heritage grant bodies. We can advise and prepare reports and estimates and we also deliver lectures to University Post Graduate courses, learned societies and governments at local, regional, national and international levels. Lectures are comprehensively illustrated from our own library of more than 40,000 archived images. The gallery on this page includes an overview of sample consultancy projects in China, Russia and London. Hugh Harrison, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, is a member of Exeter DAC, English Heritage and many other bodies. See Hugh's CV more more details.

Below is a gallery of some of our survey and consultancy work - click on the arrows to move left and right through the slides or click on the 'pictures' tab to see a selection of thumbnail images.

1a. Manchester Cathedral: Survey of significance of the pulpitum

Surveyed by Hugh Harrison Conservation.

1b. Manchester Cathedral: Survey of Significance of the Pulpitum

Surveyed by Hugh Harrison Conservation.

2a. St Cadoc’s Church, Llancarfan, Glamorgan: Survey of Reredos

We have recently examined the hotchpotch of late 15th century polychromed canopy work (now displayed as a reredos) for condition and significance. The quality of the work, originality of design and extent of original polychrome elevate these fragments to some of the most important for their date in Europe.

2b. St Cadoc’s Church, Llancarfan, Glamorgan: Survey of Reredos

Record drawing of missing work

2c. St Cadoc’s Church, Llancarfan, Glamorgan: Survey of Reredos

Here is a conjectural reconstruction drawing of the fragments as originally constructed.

3a. St Andrew’s Church, Slaidburn, Lancashire: Survey of significance of pews

This church must rank high in the unpopularity stakes for a modern pastor as space for current modes of worship let alone physical movement, which is reduced to nil by pews of every date and design completely filling the church.

3b. St Andrew’s Church, Slaidburn, Lancashire: Survey of significance of pews

The entire history of church seating can be found in this church, making the collection of national importance.

4a. The Walronds, Cullompton, Devon: Survey of panelling

A building of 16th-century origins has incurred little alteration except one attempt during the late 19th-century.

4b. The Walronds, Cullompton, Devon: Survey of panelling

The Walronds was recently left to the local community by the last owner. A survey was required to determine the condition and significance of the panelling in three rooms in order for a grant application to be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The application was successful and a major grant has been awarded.

5a. Beijing 2008: Consultancy: ICOMOS Working Party

Hugh Harrison was asked to attend a working party to provide a strategy for conserving ‘caihua’ – the painted scenes found throughout palaces and temples in China.

5b. Beijing 2008: Consultancy: ICOMOS Working Party

The usual contradictory forces of repainting using traditional skills versus conservation had to be considered during the process of working out how Beijing could maintain its World Heritage status in respect of the work.