We were thrilled to have been chosen to restore the iconic Henry Collins murals in the pedestrian subways in Colchester, Essex.
As a once prized and integral part of Colchester's cultural heritage, the murals had been heavily neglected and in fact were incomplete due to the financial restrictions at the time of being installed. The painted bitumous render was intended to be mosaic work. Although no photographs exist of the original pieces, it is known that the reliefs were originally selectively painted and gilded due to the visible remnants of ground and pigment, observations of other works by the artist, and records of oral testimony from various locals.
The timber surrounds were in very poor condition and around 40% of it is was actually missing. We completed a thorough restoration including removing thebitumous render around the coins sculptures, a thorough clean including graffiti removal, we applied a new gold scheme to selected areas of the concrete reliefs and laid mosaic tesserae to previously rendered areas.
Having been previously overlooked by passers by, we were really delighted to see the communities' new appreciation and renewed pride in these important landmarks.
Read more about the project at www.henryandjoycecollins.co.uk
Watch a short film documenting the conservation of the murals at www.henryandjoycecollins.co.uk/film
