Conservator Led Tours

Restoring Pugin

Join us for a guided tour of the Cathedral to explore our Restoring Pugin paint discoveries!

Join us for a guided tour of Nottingham Cathedral with members of the conservation team from Cliveden Conservation who have been working on our Restoring Pugin paint exploration project for the past few months.

 

The conservators will explain the history of the Cathedral, designed by the “inventor of Victorian Gothic” AWN Pugin in 1844, most famous for “Big Ben”, the Elizabeth Tower.

 

The original highly decorative paint scheme has been covered by up to nine later layers of paint. The conservators will focus on some of their fascinating discoveries as they painstakingly scraped away these recent paint layers. They will also talk about the intricate science of paint conservation in a heritage building and the challenges they encountered during their research.  

 

Tours will last about 45 minutes.

 

Tours are available at these times in May, there is no need to book:

 

Tuesday 7th May drop in 10am – no need to book

Thursday 9th May drop in 2pm  - no need to book

 

Tuesday 14th May drop in 10am - no need to book

Thursday 16th May drop in 2pm - no need to book

 

Tuesday 21st May drop in at 10am - no need to book

Thursday 23rd May drop in at 2pm - no need to book

 

Smaller groups of up to 10 people can attend drop in slots but please email to let us know [email protected]

 

If you would like to bring a group larger than 10 people we have slots available on

 

Monday 13th May Group @2pm

Monday 20th May Group @10am

 

If you would like to book a group tour at another time please contact the Cathedral and we will try to accommodate your needs [email protected]

 

Drop in tours are subject to change due to Cathedral requirements for funerals.  Please phone the day before the tour to check it is going ahead as advertised.  

 

Thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Nottingham Cathedral is embarking on an ambitious project to restore A.W.N Pugin's original interior decorations in the east end.