A new coat of breathable mineral paint at Anglesey Abbey

Anglesey Abbey’s Long Gallery gets new coat of Beeck’s breathable Maxol mineral paint

The National Trust have been redecorating the Long Gallery at Anglesey Abbey with Beeck Maxol paint. Formerly a priory, in the village of Lode, northeast of Cambridge the former priory was acquired around 1600 by Thomas Hobson, who converted it to a country house for his son-in-law, Thomas Parker.

In 1926, Anglesey Abbey was bought by Huttleston Broughton, later Lord Fairhaven, and his brother Henry. The 1st Lord Fairhaven fully restored the house which had fallen into disrepair and began to collect beautiful furniture, artworks and statuary. The paint scheme seeks to restore it to the same pristine condition it was in when Lord Fairhaven was alive. When finished, it will look to you just as it looked to him – with the same colours, textures and finishes.

The National Trust research examined the many layers of paint and distemper that have been applied to the walls over many decades and found that before Lord Fairhaven bought the Abbey the walls were painted a deep red/pink and later it was decorated three times using colour schemes in the mid brown range.

Lord Fairhaven redecorated the Long Gallery several times during his lifetime. Initially he used a warm, stone coloured washable distemper, but then moved to warmer, apricot buff-coloured washable distempers. Tests have shown that this warm buff colour was used on the ceilings and ribs as well as the walls.

The walls have been redecorated with Beeck Maxol because of its excellent ability to cover variable backgrounds whilst retaining the excellent matt lustre and breathability as a mineral paint. Womersleys where proud to work with the National Trust and their advisors to supply the colour scheme as required by their research.