Thanks to a grant of £15,000 from the Association of Independent Museums Fundamentals we will be spending the next year undertaking urgent conservation of three beautiful glass objects in the collection. We will also be using our own funds derived from income from our shop and kind donations to ensure the work on these objects is completed to the highest standard. This work will take place between June 2025 and June 2026.
17th-century window
The extremely rare 17th-century window from the former Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society on Meneage Street, Helston, having been discovered during extensive renovation to the former James’ Bakery (HESFM:1981.4595). An incredibly rare survival from a period from which little survives of Cornwall’s historic urban environment because of post-industrial development, the window with hand-made glass panes, leaded and in an oak frame, is in need of repairs to cracked pains and failed lead joins. We will also be remounting the window so it is more secure and and safer for passing visitors.
Titanic window
This beautifully-crafted stained glass window is hard to miss in the Meat Market (central gallery) of the Museum (HESFM:2004.8879). Colloquially called the ‘Titanic window’ it is a memorial to William Gilbert, Cornish inventor, who perished on the Titanic when it sank in 1912. William was on his way to the USA to promote some of the patents he had developed. The Arts & Crafts style window was commissioned by William’s family for Carleen Methodist Chapel. When the Chapel closed in the 1990s the window was donated to the Museum by his relatives. Currently, the modern wooden frame is suffering from seasonal woodworm attack and needs treating. The backlighting is provided by old fluorescent tubes, are energy-intensive and unsympathetic to the stained glass art. These will be replaced by fine LED lighting mimicking daylight.
Oliver’s butcher’s sign
During routine inventory checking of the Dairy Section in summer 2024 we came across a window fanlight sign with gilded letters spelling Oliver. The sign had become hidden behind several other objects and was leaning against one of the external windows of the Meat Market gallery. The window frame itself was rotting – and the Museum has also raised funds to undertake urgent repairs to the building later this year – causing water to come in and damage the paint and gilding of the sign. We were then able to cross-reference the sign and identify it as having belonged to the former butcher’s shop on Coinagehall Street, Helston. The sign will be re-gilded and remounted with new interpretation.
Learning from conservators
We are commissioning specialist glass conservators to help us learn more about and stabilise these three at-risk historic glass objects. The funding will enable us to improve the ongoing collections care of these glass objects and also raise our capacity by building up the teams knowledge of looking after items in the collection that are made of glass. Together this project will increase access to the collection by allowing us to focus on specific objects, researching their provenance and material history. Like we have with our conservation of wooden objects affected by woodworm we will share the stories of conservation via our website, new interpretation and redisplay. Where possible we will restore and reuse display items to reduce the environmental impact of this conservation work.
We will also be sharing our work on this project publicly in the Museum and online. For more information about our progress on this project please email: info@museumofcornishlife.co.uk
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