St Mary Abbots is a remarkably beautiful church in Kensington London designed in the late 19th century by the celebrated architect?Sir George Gilbert Scott.

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DBR Conservation was in charge of the conservation and restoration of the church’s Resurrection Chapel, previously known as the War Memorial Chapel, in time for the WW1?centenary events.

Among the conserved objects and monuments were: the Monument to Alfred and Leopold by Princess Louise, a delicate kneeling angel of limestone and gilded lettering; a rare ‘Oppy Cross’, an original 1917 wooden battlefield marker from France; and a Kensington Battalion Shield, a gilded metal shield. Additionally a new commemorative board of painted lettering was designed and commissioned.

Other work included the repair and restoration of the Chapel’s dado woodwork, which is poignantly decorated with the carved names of fallen soldiers. As well as the cleaning of the painted ceiling, which required historic paint analysis to investigate previous decorative schemes. The Princess Louise Angel memorial was gently steam cleaned in a controlled manner so as not to disturb the gilding.

New lighting was installed and this work was brought to a close with its floor being cleaned in time for a memorial service to mark the start of WW1 on August 4th 2014

More projects by DBR Conservation teams can be found <a href="”> here.

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