Tudor panelling back on show in Exeter (From Mid Devon Star)

Tudor panelling back on show in Exeter

2:00pm Friday 27th November 2009

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SPECTACULAR painted wall panelling dating back to Tudor times has been reinstated back in its original home in an Exeter restaurant.

The 400-year-old panelling at the Conservatory Restaurant in North Street was discovered by accident after a fire damaged much of the building in the 1990s.

After its discovery, it was transferred to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum for safekeeping.

It has now been cleaned and restored with help from the city council and the Exeter Historic Buildings Trust and is back up in the restaurant, where diners will be able to view it.

Cllr Peter Wadham said: "Because this 400-year-old painted panelling is so important and it belongs to a Listed building, the city council is more than happy to have helped in the restoration of such a rarity.

“By reinstalling it back in the restaurant behind a protective screen, we hope that hundreds of people will be able to catch a glimpse of what the inside of such Exeter buildings looked like back in the Tudor times."

Steve Simmons, the owner of the Conservatory, said: “I am delighted to be able to be involved in a project which will bring part of Exeter's rich history to so many visitors.

“The sheer scale and beauty of the panelling will be a source of pleasure for generations to come, and should help North Street rediscover the important position it once held in the city.”

The earliest Tudor panelling has a colourful arabesque pattern, painted in white and blue and light greenish yellow on an ochre background, with yellow and green framing.

This is very similar to the painted panelling that can now be seen at the Museum in St Nicholas Priory, off The Mint.

Some 70 or 80 years later, after the Civil War, the whole room was re-painted with a stunningly colourful botanical design, including paintings of a cherry tree, plum tree, rose bush, vines, thistles and tulips.

Both painting schemes covered the whole room, and were the posh wallpaper of the time.

From the outside, the restaurant is an unassuming but important historic listed building. Although its front was knocked off and rebuilt because of Victorian road widening, the building behind was erected by a Tudor merchant in the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I, some 400 years ago.

Today's conservation work has been carried out by specialist conservators, McNeilage Conservation and Hugh Harrison.

As well as diners now being able to see the panelling, other tours and visits will be possible by appointment.

The building is already on the route of Red Coat Guide tours, and it is envisaged that it should also feature in the yearly Heritage Open Days each September.

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