history

THE CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION OF THE HEREFORD SCREEN
HISTORY

The great choir screen made for Hereford Cathedral is one of the monuments of High Victorian art, a masterpiece in the Gothic Revival style. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Victorian architect, and made by the Coventry metalworking firm of Francis Skidmore.

The screen was one of the major exhibits at the 1862 International Exhibition in London, before it was installed in Hereford Cathedral. The 1862 exhibition was intended to stimulate trade as well as to have popular appeal. Good design was a major consideration. The exhibition included every important type and process of contemporary manufacture.

Praised by the Illustrated London News as ‘the grandest most triumphant achievement of modern architectural art…far the most important and most successful example of modern metalwork that has been executed’; the screen was influential in winning for its maker a special medal for manufacturers in metal, brass and copper, for progress, elegance of design and excellent workmanship. The jury report on the screen described it as ‘one of the most important works, not only for its size, but for the care with which it has been executed, and the successful endeavours to treat what is in fact a large architectural subject in metal alone.’ Christopher Dresser later singled the screen out in his Principles of Decorative Design (1872) as ‘a correct and very beautiful treatment of material, one of the finest examples of artistic metalwork.’

International Exhibition, 1862

A screen was essential to a medieval cathedral, as the barrier which separated nave from chancel, congregation from clergy. By the 19th century, most had disappeared. Scott began to reinstate this medieval feature. Noted especially for building new churches, Scott began to restore old churches in the 1860s. He aimed to reintroduce a sense of architectural and spatial cohesion, and boldly added modern work to achieve this aim.

His most impressive screens were largely of iron, as at the cathedrals of Lichfield (1861), Hereford (1862) and Salisbury (1869-1872), and all were constructed by Skidmore of Coventry. No medieval screens were made of iron – then far too costly – but always of stone or wood. Scott regarded iron as an important ‘modern’ material and used it extensively, both structurally and decoratively.

Hereford Cathedral

Dismantling the Screen, 1967

Celebrated in the 19th century, the screen fell from favour in the 20th century. Aesthetically, it was seen as ugly and incongruous in a medieval building. Liturgically, it was held to form an unacceptable barrier between the congregation and the chancel area.

In 1967 the screen finally fell victim to fashionable anti-Victorian prejudice. Despite a national outcry and the protests of John Betjeman, Nikolaus Pevsner and many others, the screen was dismantled by the Cathedral authorities, and sold to the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery in Coventry. But the Herbert lacked funds either to conserve or to house it and in 1983 gave it to the V&A.

Return to Introduction

The Hereford Screen

Sir George Gilbert Scott (Architect)

The Conservation Project

Acknowledgements

	The great choir screen made for Hereford Cathedral is one of the monuments of High Victorian art, a masterpiece in the Gothic Revival style. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Victorian architect, and made by the Coventry metalworking firm of Francis Skidmore. The screen was one of the major exhibits at the 1862 International Exhibition in London, before it was installed in Hereford Cathedral. The 1862 exhibition was intended to stimulate trade as well as to have popular appeal. Good design was a major consideration. The exhibition included every important type and process of contemporary manufacture.
Praised by the Illustrated London News as ‘the grandest most triumphant achievement of modern architectural art…far the most important and most successful example of modern metalwork that has been executed’; the screen was influential in winning for its maker a special medal for manufacturers in metal, brass and copper, for progress, elegance of design and excellent workmanship. The jury report on the screen described it as ‘one of the most important works, not only for its size, but for the care with which it has been executed, and the successful endeavours to treat what is in fact a large architectural subject in metal alone.’ Christopher Dresser later singled the screen out in his Principles of Decorative Design (1872) as ‘a correct and very beautiful treatment of material, one of the finest examples of artistic metalwork.’		International Exhibition, 1862
A screen was essential to a medieval cathedral, as the barrier which separated nave from chancel, congregation from clergy. By the 19th century, most had disappeared. Scott began to reinstate this medieval feature. Noted especially for building new churches, Scott began to restore old churches in the 1860s. He aimed to reintroduce a sense of architectural and spatial cohesion, and boldly added modern work to achieve this aim. His most impressive screens were largely of iron, as at the cathedrals of Lichfield (1861), Hereford (1862) and Salisbury (1869-1872), and all were constructed by Skidmore of Coventry. No medieval screens were made of iron – then far too costly – but always of stone or wood. Scott regarded iron as an important ‘modern’ material and used it extensively, both structurally and decoratively.		Hereford Cathedral
Dismantling the Screen, 1967	Celebrated in the 19th century, the screen fell from favour in the 20th century. Aesthetically, it was seen as ugly and incongruous in a medieval building. Liturgically, it was held to form an unacceptable barrier between the congregation and the chancel area. In 1967 the screen finally fell victim to fashionable anti-Victorian prejudice. Despite a national outcry and the protests of John Betjeman, Nikolaus Pevsner and many others, the screen was dismantled by the Cathedral authorities, and sold to the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery in Coventry. But the Herbert lacked funds either to conserve or to house it and in 1983 gave it to the V&A.

Return to Introduction The Hereford Screen Sir George Gilbert Scott (Architect) The Conservation Project Acknowledgements