Skillington Workshop

09/06/2026

Sharing this post from our partners at Stobi (North Macedonia) where David has just been teaching at a Field School.

09/06/2026

Here we are working in Aberystwyth, conserving gargoyles and other architectural sculpture on the old university building on the seafront.

29/05/2026

Our latest Field School at Stobi, North Macedonia

27/04/2026

We’re in our third consecutive year of a conservation programme at Stobi. David was there last week, and is running a conservation Field School centred on the Theodosian Palace from 25th May.

Stobi celebrates the conservation of the Theodosian Palace (4th–6th c. CE) with ministerial visitors and international partners.

27/02/2026

27/02/2026

Happy Friday! Here’s some photos of Wimbotsham church in Norfolk, where we’re cleaning and restoring plaster and stone, and the chancel ceiling - which remarkably survived a disastrous fire a couple of years ago. Always very sad to see lovely old buildings gutted by fire, but it’s so satisfying to help bring them back to life. We’re specialists sub-contractors to Draper & Nichols on this project.

27/01/2026

We’re currently working on this Coade Stone royal arms in a Cambridgeshire church. The main concerns are corroding ironwork, both a frame forming a lintel in the run plaster arch (which is decorative rather than structural) and fixings within the arms itself. Coade is an artificial stone of the highest quality made to a ‘secret’ recipe, fired. The modelling, not normally seen this close up, is beautiful.

09/12/2025

We’ve been making a condition assessment of the ‘Loki stone’, a 10th century Anglo-Danish carving at Kirkby Stephen church, Westmorland. It’s a wonderful carving, probably originally part of a cross shaft (it slightly tapers) and is pretty well unique in Britain, with only a couple of other examples in Europe. Many thanks to our clients Kirkby Stephen PCC for the commission.

19/11/2025

Carrying out enabling and investigation works to the decorative plaster ceiling in the Ballroom at Northumberland Hall in Alnwick (Northumbria). We’re removing unstable areas, carrying out paint and plaster analysis, and are shortly to be working with sniffer dogs trained to detect dry rot. As dogs aren’t very good at climbing scaffolding we have to bring samples down for them 😊
Meanwhile it’s nice and warm inside but trying to snow outside!

04/11/2025

The Lutyens war memorial at Spalding was unveiled today and made it to the BBC news

The Grade 1 listed Lutyens memorial in Spalding's Ascoughfee Hall Gardens is 103 years old.