A lengthy restoration project at Canterbury Cathedral has brought to life an artistic feature not seen in its full glory for four centuries.
It follows painstaking work to a carved stone panel illustrating angels in the magnificent 15th-century Chapel of our Lady Martyrdom.
Now the newly-created figures sit alongside the five surviving historic carvings in the impressive four-metre frieze.
They replace plain stone that was installed in the 1970s to fill areas which had been damaged in the late 17th century when four of the original angel carvings were obliterated.
It means that all nine angels are now back in place as they would have been when the frieze was originally created 400 years ago.
The new angels are the work of artist Nina Bilbey and the restoration project was funded by an anonymous donor.
There was very little evidence left of the features of the four original angels so the new ones have been thoughtfully designed to harmonize with the remaining historic carvings.
It is a prominent feature of the Chapel of our Lady Martyrdom (also known as The Deans’ Chapel), and forms part of the main east wall, sited directly below the sill of the Chapel’s east window.
The frieze, as with the wider chapel, was originally constructed in Caen stone from Normandy, and there is evidence from surviving paint traces that the angels would once have had a richly-coloured polychromatic scheme.
Our Lady Martyrdom is one of the most regularly used chapels for daily prayer at the cathedral, holding morning prayer and Holy Communion throughout the week.
Reserved for private prayer throughout the day, it is not on the main visitor route, but is visible through the gate and stone screen.
But the previously patched frieze was “stark and intrusive” to those worshipping within and observing the chapel, as it was out of keeping with the rest of the circa 15th-century design.
Dean David said: “I am delighted that this careful studied work of restoration is complete, using the highest artistry and scholarship to achieve this 21st-century intervention in such an historic site.”
