Ely Cathedral Altar Frontal Restoration
Details of the restoration 2011-2013
The white festival frontal dates from the late 19th Century and the
project required the restoration of both the frontal and the superfrontal.
The backing silk was in poor condition and the first part of the project
was to source replacement silk. Vanners Silk Weaving Company of
Sudbury were approached but after research reported that the original
design was not in their library. They therefore copied the design, which
is now catalogued as ‘Ely Cathedral’ and wove, to order, the amount of
silk required for the frontal. The copying of the design was done by
computer, took two days and was the most expensive part of the
restoration project!
The nine NADFAS heritage volunteers had carefully lifted the
embroidery from the original backing silk and then reapplied it to the
new silk. Many of the oringinal pearl beads were missing so 2,000
replacements were tracked down and dyed to match the originals
before being painstakingly sewn into place.
Anchor embroidery thread was used to couch round the motifs, having
been matched to the exact colour of the original silk thread. After timeconsuming and careful sorting the original fringe was able to be reused. It took many hours of work since it is made of two layers and
over time they had become entangled and matted.
The restoration was carried out at the home of Mrs Isobel Lattimore,
under her leadership and guidance. The volunteers gave their time
freely whilst The Friends of Ely Cathedral paid for the materials and
were delighted to be able to visit in October 2012 and see the work in
progress. It is estimated that 5,000 hours of volunteer time was spent
on this project!
Notes of the restoration, together with samples of the materials used,
were attached to the linen backing cloth. It is hoped that the frontal
will have at least another hundred years of use and that when the time
comes for the next restoration these details will be discovered and
appreciated.
After completion the frontal was put on a specially made wooden frame
and a large calico covering bag was made. It was returned to Ely
Cathedral and dedicated on The Friends’ Festival Day 2013 in the
presence of nearly all the volunteers who had worked on it with such
commitment and enthusiasm.
Suella M. Hunting, Friends’ Officer, October 2013