The early twentieth-century West window of Stow Minster, Lincolnshire, was almost destroyed when it was blown out in a storm in January 2014. Barley Studio conserved the surviving pieces and restored the window back to its former appearance, reinstalling it with a new and much improved support structure.

The conservation of elements of the U505 WWII German submarine, a key exhibit in the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, IL USA. Special areas had been selected to be opened up for small groups to visit in addition to existing areas of public access. The brief was to plan to conserve all instruments, historic floors, cabinet work in the quarters, replicate a lost floor and provide ideas for how the treatment might improve or boost interpretation and enable exposure

A remarkable collection of books. The project began in 2014 with the conservation and post-exhibition re-binding of an illuminated manuscript made for and used by Queen Mary during her reign (1553-8) 'The Manual of Blessing of Cramp Rings and Touching for Evil'. The new binding was required to be adhesive free and yet secure and flexible enough to support the parchment without any strain during use and exhibition. Very stable I/4 sawn oak-boards and alum-tawed spine covering, bespoke sewing pattern with integral sewn endbands and kettle-stitch supports achieved this. Removed from an unsuitable, very tight, modern binding, an early parchment manuscript transcript of Julian of Norwich (1343-1416) writings required delicate parchment repairs where the leaves had split due to the tightness of the previous binding. Once the parchment was repaired, a traditional limp vellum binding was created as a gentle and reversible structure to allow use of the book for research without strain to the vulnerable parchment, a sturdy box backed this up to protect the volume when shelved. Possibly the most wonderful of all, St. John Southworth's prayer book, used by him during his work with plague victims of the Westminster Parish before he was martyred in 1654, and itself a holy relic. The book was incredibly fragile and in deteriorating condition. It required a complicated set of treatments to be designed in order to preserve every fragment of the original binding, as required by its status, which at the same time allowed the book to be safe to handle, display and store in the long term. A box was also created which was capable of both storage and easy exhibition, with notes on the book and St John Southworth's life made integral to the box. There were several other incunabula and a quite stunning 16th Century Book of Hours to complete the project, each with its own story to be preserved and made available once more. The project finished in May 2019 with a small exhibition and a talk given to some of the Friends of the Cathedral about their collection and its conservation.

A badly damaged graphite drawing was treated: the mould and discolouration were all successfully removed.

An original Capability Brown 'working' plan, still part of the archive of the estate for which the landscape was designed. The plan was full of hidden detail showing how Brown drew, amended adjusted, used and even repaired his drawings. The linen lining and its adhesive had tightened over the years and the paper of the plan was under a lot of strain especially where 3 layers of paper met one layer. There were large running tears and considerable cockling. The defining aspect of the project was to alleviate this strain and repair the damage without disturbing any of the original detail. Much of this detail was very fragile, including faded ink (only visible under UV light), scoring marks, erased pencil and pin-holes, some of which was only uncovered during the project but all of which has now been preserved. Finally the plan was mounted for framing using a parchment mounting, with flexible slotted mounts to allow the plan to 'breathe' and flex according to changes in humidity and mitigate the strain to the paper. The plan was then framed in a sealed conservation grade frame.

A 17th Century printed book with extensive annotations by two glassmakers of the 18th Century, making the book an absolutely fascinating and unique object. The condition was original but very fragile due to severe mould damage throughout the textblock, annotated sheets and notes having been heavily glued into the textblock and detached boards. The book could not be used without a high risk of loss or damage to the unique annotated text. The textblock was extensively repaired using Japanese tissues toned to match the original paper, the binding was repaired, including the sewn endbands and a new leather spine under the original leather. The book was also given a bespoke archival quality "four-flap" box. Once the work was completed, a talk to the Guildford Institute on the project was given.

Perth Museum has cared for the mummy and painted coffin of the priestess Lady Tak-hr-heb since the 1930s. In recent decades the mummy has not been displayed due to concerns about its condition. Research was undertaken with Manchester University Museum to CT-scan and research the mummy and coffin. The research led on to the conservation of the mummy and coffin which was undertaken in a specially adapted gallery in the museum so that the public could observe the progress of the work. The mummy could not be removed from the coffin as it was very fragile and damaged at the back. After initial cleaning, a team placed special medical cushions over the mummy and coffin, deflated the cushions to stiffen them, and inverted the coffin so that the mummy lay face down on the cushions for treatment for the next few weeks. The mummy was extensively cleaned and consolidated and, after turning back over, it was placed on a padded mountboard for display. The coffin lid was cleaned of layers of mud to reveal the painted surface and the written inscriptions to a greater extent, and repairs were made to the wood and the plaster of the coffin base. At the end of the treatment, both mummy and coffin were cleaner, physically stable and ready for display.

Conservation and Restoration of Bronze, St John’s College, Cambridge This large project for St John’s College, Cambridge, involved the conservation and restoration of bronze windows and other architectural features for the Cripps Building, St John’s College, Cambridge. The project came in on time and on budget. Our client will happily…

Ongoing conservation work to outdoor sculptural collection and features at Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and The Banqueting House

Both Charters served to recognise the ‘veterinary art’ as a profession and incorporated the College, giving the College powers to administer examinations, appoint staff, hold property and to become the professional body seen today. Previous storage of the charters had caused creasing damage to the vellum sheets and some staining had occurred to the documents. The aim of the project was to relax the documents back to their original flat state, prepare the 1844 Royal Charter for conservation framing, and re-house the 1876 Charter into an appropriate box so it can be accessed easily but safely.