Restoration and Renewal

The Duchy of Lancaster continues to encourage young people studying agriculture, land management and traditional construction skills. Around £30,000 is awarded annually in the form of bursaries and scholarships to students at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, Myerscough College in Lancashire, Moulton College in Northamptonshire and Lancaster University.

In a new working partnership this year, the Duchy also joined forces with the City & Guilds of London Art School to restore a piece of the city’s history. The stone-carved Duchy crest which sits above the front door of the building at 1 Lancaster Place in London had become weathered and faded. Environmental conditions had even led to some loss of the stone substrate, requiring careful restoration and repair.

Students Cody Cochrane and Louise Davison, both of whom are in their final year of a 3-year Conservation Studies degree at the City and Guilds of London Art School*, restored those areas where loss had occurred and repainted and re-gilded the crest according to its original design. The work was completed in just six days.

Commenting on the finished project, Duchy Head of Project Management Graeme Chalk said: “We are extremely grateful to the School and particularly Course Leader Jennifer Dinsmore for allowing the students to undertake this highly skilled work. The crest was last treated in 1999 and had become dull and lacklustre. Cody and Louise worked extremely hard with specialist conservation materials to bring it back to its original condition. It now looks as good as new again.”

1 Lancaster Place forms part of an imposing Art Deco building overlooking the River Thames and Victoria Embankment. Designed by W E Hunt in 1930 and built of Portland stone, it is now home to a small number of independent companies and has served as the administrative headquarters of the Duchy of Lancaster since its completion in 1932. It sits within the Savoy Conservation Area and is part of the Duchy’s historic Savoy Estate gifted to Edmund Crouchback by his mother Eleanor of Provence in 1264.

* For more information on the course at City & Guilds of London Art School please click on the link below: https://www.cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk/ba-hons-conservation-stone-wood-decorative-surfaces/