March 2025

Completed Long Gallery ceiling opens to visitors

Following years of preparation and a year of work, the Long Gallery ceiling is back open for visitors. Along with a new exhibition along the Robartes Route, the Long Gallery ceiling can be seen for the first time following the completed conservation. 

Come and see the difference the work has made to the ceiling, which is now protected for future generations. Visitors can find out more about the conservation process and how the ceiling was made, as well as lie on custom-built couches and enjoy the extraordinary detail in the ceiling.  

Keep checking back here as the project progresses for updates on the timeline.

November 2024

Work begins to return the house to its usual state

Work has now begun to return the house to its usual state. Dirty water used to clean the ceiling has been removed and safely disposed of and work has begun to dismantle the scaffolding in the Long Gallery. 

More than 4000 objects in the collection back to their proper places over the winter, ready for the house to re-open in 2025. This delicate work cannot be completed while open to visitors and took up the majority of Lanhydrock's staff capacity over the winter.

October 2024

Repair work finished

Having painstakingly created and fitted replacement horns, beaks, wings, leaves and heads, the conservators have finished repairs to the ceiling. Their work has also included surveying and filling cracks in the ceiling and ensuring that the structural integrity of the ceiling. 

Now cleaned and repaired, conservation on the ceiling is complete.  

July 2024

Conservators begin repairs

Over the years, some pieces of decoration on the Long Gallery ceiling have been lost. Conservators are now working to replace these missing parts, including deer and unicorn horns. 

Traditional materials such as wood and distemper are moulded to create replicas of the missing parts, which are then secured back into the ceiling. 

June 2024

Conservators finish cleaning

The conservators working on the ceiling have finished the intricate 116ft long Long Gallery ceiling. Using sponges, brushes and distilled water, they have removed years of grime and discoloured distemper from the ceiling's surface. 

Now the ceiling is clean, the conservators are now moving on to the repairs that are needed, including missing antlers, animal heads and even a unicorn horn. 

March 2024

Long Gallery ceiling opens to visitors

After a lot of preparation, the Long Gallery ceiling and new mansion route are open to visitors until 3 November 2024. The house is now open daily for visitors to see Lanhydrock's collection like never before along the mansion route, find out what it takes to do a conservation project like this, and take the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Long Gallery ceiling up close on the scaffold. 

February 2024

Conservation work begins

Specialists from Cliveden Conservation begin work on the Long Gallery ceiling. Using warm water, sponges and brushes, they clean of ceiling, before applying a new layer of distemper. The first 5 metres of ceiling are completed so that visitors can access the ceiling. 

January 2024

Scaffolding goes up

After a lot of careful measuring, scaffolding is erected in the Long Gallery to allow access to the ceiling for conservators and visitors. The scaffolding is passed in through a specially-made chute through a window in the Long Gallery and spans the 116ft length of the ceiling.  

November 2023

Collection moves to racking

The house team at Lanhydrock work to move over 3,300 books, ceramics and furniture onto racking in the house to move them from the Long Gallery and keep them safe while the conservation on the ceiling takes place. 

2023

Finalising plans for the C:UP project

In early 2023, plans for the conservation of the ceiling were finalised. Conservators from Cliveden Conservations were chosen to do the work, scaffolding was planned to span the length of the Long Gallery to allow the work to take place and for visitors to get up close to the ceiling, new interpretation to tie-in with the project was comissioned to go into the hosue for the 2024 season, and planning began to move much of the collection onto racking to keep it safe while the conservation work took place. 

2021-22

Monitoring the ceiling's condition

New surveys carried out in two phases between November 2021 and January 2022. The ceiling's existing finish was found to be flaking and patchy from previous ad hoc repairs, resulting in poor aesthetics to what is a nationally significant plasterwork ceiling. It was decided that a major conservation project was needed to restore the ceiling.