We have completed our repairs to the historic façade of King’s Lynn Town Hall, Norfolk – a building that dates back to 1421.
Our Norfolk Workshop has been working with the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to address the issues raised within a condition report following a survey of the plaster ceiling to the Assembly Room and Card Room at King’s Lynn Town Hall. This part of the building was added in 1766-8 by William Tuck and the bricklayer Thomas King.
As well as carrying out remedial work to the historic ceiling, we have also repaired damaged stone work to the external façade at the front of the building, which was originally constructed in 1895 by Tree & Price of London. To replace the original eroded stone, Our team sourced Weldon Stone as a suitable match and hand carved the pieces at its Houghton workshop. The stone was then carefully transported to the town hall and fixed in place using traditional stone masonry skills.
“To conserve the important façade of the building and retain its original character we only replaced the stone which was in the poorest condition,” explains our Norfolk Workshop Manager.
Our highly skilled Conservators are now focusing on the remedial stabilisation of the ceiling of the Assembly Room and Card Room. This involves fixing hangers to the ceiling joist and connecting the hangers to the lath and plaster ceiling using various techniques. Once the remedial work is complete, Cliveden Conservation will be able to fill the cracks and carry out decoration to restore the historic ceiling.
“Our aim is to preserve the historic lathe and plaster ceiling by using non-destructive techniques and retain the original fabric, says Hamish. “We also need to make sure this work is carried out with minimal disturbance, so King’s Lynn Town Hall can still be used for functions.”
Cliveden Conservation is scheduled to complete the conservation works to this Grade II listed building by the end of the year.
“King’s Lynn Town Hall is a significant historic building but also an important and busy operational building. We have been very impressed with Cliveden Conservation’s professional and flexible approach to undertaking these repairs, while also minimising potential disruption to the day-to-day operation of the Town Hall,” says Mark Fuller, Principal Project Surveyor from the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk.