King's College Chapel gets a "spring clean"

Removing dust from around the Chapel

If left unmanaged, dust is not only an aesthetic concern but a real risk to historic interiors.

What's so harmful about dust?

A significant amount of the ‘dust’ within a building comes in through natural ventilation and air exchange with the external environment, with a similar high proportion being carried in on people. The particles include both organic and inorganic material that tends to accumulate more on surfaces in high-traffic areas.

"People don't often think about dust as a risk to cultural heritage as much other environmental factors like humidity, temperature, light and gaseous pollutants" commented Gethin Harvey at Caroe Architects. "But evaluations undertaken for historic monuments and houses in the UK and in France rank dust as the second highest cause of deterioration."

Dust not only dulls the appearance of decorative surfaces but can also promote micro-scratches, generate destructive chemical reactions, and create an environment where, coupled with humidity and temperature, biological activity and corrosion can have negative impacts. Reduction and control of dust is therefore a key issue in protecting the precious fabric of the Chapel and one we take very seriously.

Recent activities have included a high-level deep clean to reduce the overall dust load. Due to access constraints this is a logistical challenge that, fortunately, is not required as often as the cleaning of low-level surfaces.

How we cleaned a Chapel from top to bottom

The clean required the construction of temporary scaffold ramps to bring a cherry picker into the Chapel, and extremely careful manoeuvring within to ensure nothing was damaged. Weight limitations around the crypt (that extends close to both the north and south doors) governed the size of machine that could be safely brought into the Chapel meaning that a specialist team of conservators then worked carefully with extended hoovers to reach the even the highest points.

Repairing and restoring woodwork from the 17th century

Following from trials and urgent conservation work undertaken in 2023 we are embarking on an ambitious programme to treat the woodwork of the Chapel.

A major conservation programme

This multi-year project is the most extensive conservation to the internationally significant woodwork of the quire in the last 75 years. Damage has occurred from constant use over the centuries and historic woodworm infestation has caused the timber in some areas to become weak and crumbly.

Old repairs are now failing and some of the panels are at risk of splitting or carved elements detaching. The surfaces have embedded dust in hard-to-reach areas and have old wax residues that require a specialist clean. Obvious losses of the carving (including 2 unicorn horns and 10 small crosses from lion’s crowns) are being replaced with new carving.

Recent work

For this phase of work our focus is on the carved armorial panels that make up a screen at the back of the stalls.

"These beautiful panels were commissioned and given by Thomas Weaver, a Fellow of King's" noted the Dean of Chapel. "They were carved by a man called William Fells and records show that he visited the Chapel in 1629. The panels were installed in 1633."

They are made from elm, which is unusual: the rest of the choir is made from oak which was the more commonly used wood for interior joinery. However, Fells seems to have access to a plentiful supply of elm trees for this purpose.

Each panel is made from only two boards: a wide one making up around 2/3rds the width and a narrower one. The board would have been carved solid - rather than having the carving applied. This would have meant that very thick boards were cut from the tree trunk.