Abingdon Abbey is one of England’s oldest monastic sites, a Benedictine abbey founded in 675 and, after the dissolution of the monasteries, largely lost. The Long Gallery is one of the few surviving buildings, built around 1455 and Grade I listed. Saved from demolition by the people of Abingdon in 1944, it has now secured a £4million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for a once-in-a-generation restoration to bring the Abbey Buildings into the 21st century.
Among the most pressing works was the Long Gallery, which for centuries had stood open to the elements. As part of the programme to weatherproof the gallery for year-round use, traditional leaded glass and metal-framed windows were being reinstated to close the building up and protect it for generations to come.
Due to the age of the building, a number of the existing oak mullion supports had failed or been subject to unsympathetic repairs over the years. Our brief was to assess and replace any unsalvageable timbers, and to repair the existing oak mullions using traditional joinery methods that honoured the original craftsmanship.
We were chosen for this heritage project because of our deep understanding of period buildings, our commitment to traditional materials and methods, and our care in preserving as much of the original fabric as possible.
Our Solution.
We sourced indigenous English air-dried oak and designed a bespoke cutter to faithfully reproduce the existing profile of the mullions, ensuring the new work was indistinguishable from the original. Throughout the project we advised the appointed architect on the correct conservation approach to the repairs.
In keeping with our regenerative principles, we also advised the architect on suitable low-VOC finishes, preventing any further synthetic finishes being applied to this historic building and protecting both the fabric and the air quality within it.
We produced one full replacement oak mullion along with two additional spares. We then carefully removed the failed existing mullion, cleaned out the existing tenons, and fitted the new oak mullion in its place. Finally, we splice-repaired four further existing mullions, strengthening them with solid oak and solid oak dowels so they could remain part of the building for centuries to come.