The Tudor Embossed Plaster Ceiling Project
In 2019 Tudor House received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund which supported the conservation of the last remaining Tudor ceiling in Worcester.
The Tudor embossed plaster ceiling in the bed chamber or the ‘Best Room’, can be dated on stylistic grounds to the last decades of the 16th century and was commissioned by Edward Cottryl, the weaver and clothier who lived at Tudor House during the Tudor period. Passers-by in the street would have caught a glimpse of the ceiling through opened windows and would have understood Edward’s position in society. The decoration includes tesselating shapes surrounding motifs including Tudor roses, fleur-de-lys, lion passant, prancing horses and a central vine decoration.
In 2020 work began on the ceiling so that this unique feature could remain intact. The ceiling’s structure and decoration had suffered to such a degree, that debris resting on the laths above the ceiling were causing it to sag. An expert in historic restoration was consulted in order to plot out the various stages of restoration. The work began in the attic with floorboards removed to find centuries of dust and debris which had caused obvious stress on the ceiling in the Best Room. The structure in the attic rooms was strengthened before work on the ceiling could begin. Restoration to the ceiling was a painstaking job involving the peeling away of many layers of paint – 17 to be exact! A paint analysis revealed that earlier layers were distemper (an early form of whitewash) and that all the layers were white paint. Once the flaky paint was removed the motifs beautiful details were more easily visible. Inspection of the ceiling showed that the flowing curved ribs of the design, probably mapped out by hand, do slightly shrink in size on the right hand side (when facing the window); this only adds to the charm and is evidence of the craftsman’s hand.
Peter Hare, expert in plaster decoration, who worked on our fantastic ceiling project discusses our beautiful Tudor embossed plaster ceiling in the video below: