Well-Preserved Tudor Wall Paintings Discovered Beneath Plaster at Medieval Manor

Smithsonian ^ | November 11, 2021 | David Kindy

[SunkenCiv]

Restorers at Calverley Old Hall, a medieval manor in Yorkshire, England, recently turned their attention to a “very undistinguished little bedroom,” reports Mark Brown for the Guardian.

Peeling away the room’s 19th-century plaster, they were “gobsmacked” by what they spotted hidden below: Tudor wall paintings, likely dated to the reign of Elizabeth I (1558 to 1603), on a scale rarely found in England today.

The find is “the discovery of a lifetime,” Anna Keay, director of the Landmark Trust, which is restoring the building, tells the Guardian.

“Never in my own 27 years of working in historic buildings have I ever witnessed a discovery like this,” writes Keay in a blog post. “Hidden paneling, yes, little snatches of decorative painting, once or twice. But an entire painted chamber absolutely lost to memory, a time machine to the age of the Reformation and the Virgin Queen, never.”

Experts are now working to preserve the floor-to-ceiling paintings (essentially Tudor wallpaper), which feature mythical creatures and climbing vines in red, white and black. Painted in the exaggerated grotesque style, the artwork is patterned after designs—inspired by the Golden House of Roman Emperor Nero—that became popular in England during the 16th century.

[SunkenCiv]

Birds with teeth, little men in triangular hats and other fanciful figures appear in the Tudor wall paintings.

Tom Burrows / Landmark Trust

[SunkenCiv]

(YouTube)

An extraordinary discovery at Calverley Old Hall | October 28, 2021 | The Landmark Trust

[SunkenCiv]

[Red Badger]

Tudor?

Looks more like Four door, to me...................

[Sirius Lee]

Looks more like Four door

Nope, two. You can see from this super awesome painting.

[AFB-XYZ]

Looks more like Four door, to me...................

Heh. Left themselves open for that one. Well played.

[Red Badger]

Thanks, it was quite a coupe.....................

[Revel]

Looks like Grandma’s wall paper.

[Pontiac]

The people that covered those walls with plaster no doubt thought the wall were ugly.

I understand why.

Maybe they will look more presentable once they are cleaned up.

[Jane Austen]

Interesting.

[Jane Austen]

Interesting.

[Palio di Siena]

Send in DCI Barnaby and Sgt. Troy - they’ll figure it out.

[bgill]

I’ve been watching old BBC shows on youtube about restoring these old landmark buildings and it’s exciting when the workmen uncover something.

[blam]

I was telling an employee of mine about my tour of a 120 year old house in Houston. He said that he could take me to a house in England that had been continuously lived in for 1,200 years.

Anyway, on my tour I learned where the term 'sleep tight' originated.
(Bump)

[Tennessee Nana]

You’re both wrong It’s a hatch back an ancient car

:)

[j.havenfarm]

Looks like it could use some restoration. Just keep that Spanish lady who restored the painting of Jesus away

[tet68]

Little men in pointy hats and the WALLS way yay!!!

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Little Jimmy Dickens had a song about sleeping tight. ;^)

Oldest continuously occupied home in England dates from 1148. Most places have only surviving elements from the original construction. There are however buildings that survive in some form from Roman Britain, they’re just not houses.

https://www.abroadintheyard.com/12-buildings-today-around-when-richard-iii-on-throne/

[Katya]

Article is at best hyperbolic, Europe is full of houses and castles with paintings from the 16th century. I’ve literally toured houses offered up for sale in france, Switzerland and Germany with fresos dated from even earlier 😂

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, I like that show:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Restoration+Home+site%3Ayoutube.com