Victoria Restored by Richard Hunter
n rhe universiry town of Aberysrwyrh on rhe mid-Welsh coasr is a merchanr ship's figurehead of rhe young Queen Victoria in full coronarion regalia srandi ng on a small iron bracker high above rhe srreer on a building formerly known as rhe "Vicroria Inn " public house and recendy resrored as a resrauranr. The name "Vicroria Inn" firsr appeared in the local rown census for 1881; ir may be rhar she has been in Aberysrwyrh from ar lease chis dare. When rhe inn closed ar rhe beginning of rhe 1920s and rhe building rurned over ro purely commercial use, Vicroria remained in siru, and rhe building became known as "Vicroria House. " The cask of finding rhe rrue idenriry of chis parricularcarving has been quire daunring. Vicroria was one of rhe mosr enduring and popular monarchs in British hisrory. During her 60 years on rhe British throne she was immorralized in wood on rhe bows of co undess vessels borh merchanr and naval rhroughour her vasr empire. Several figureh eads like rhe one in Aberysrwyrh have survived and can be seen in public collections all over rheworld, in rhe Un ired Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Iraly, rhe Un ired Scares, and Ausrralia. Several come from idenrified vessels; ochers, like our Vicroria, have nor been idenrified. Any arrempr ro dare rhe carving by her appearance is complicated by rhe face char, as in
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rhe case ofborh rhe coinage and scamps of rhe rime, images of rhe Queen for popular consumprion only changed toward the end of her reign, making ir possible char rhe figurehead was carved any rime wirhin a 30- ro 40-year period. By rhe earl y 1990s rhe co nditions of rhe carving and rhe small iron bracket beneath rhe figurehead were caus ing rhe owners of Vicroria House and rhe local civic sociery concern. The bracker and supporr had become corroded after years of exposure ro rhe relatively high salr co nrenr of rhe local misr and vehicle pollution. Ir was decided ro rake Vicroria down for a full conservation and resrorarion program. This would be rhe first rime in well over 100 years rhar Vicroria would be removed and brought down ro ground level. On close inspection, ir was found rhar over rhe pasr 50 years or so she had been heavily overpainred wirh several coats of whar, on initial inspection, looked very much 1ike a black rar preservative material, which obscured rhe original , intricate derail. This had builr up to approximately 10 ro 15 mm over rhe enrire figurehead, and while ir acted as a preservative, ir had almost mummified Vicroria wirh a black shroud. Removing her from rh is rhi n layer of rar proved ro be an exrremely arduous project, raking ar least a year and a half. The chick rar had ro
be painstakingly ch ipped awaywirh a chisel before more traditional methods of paint removal co uld be used, such as a small blow rorch and h eat gun. Finally Nirromos was used ro strip away rhe final laye rs of paint and original undercoats. When this was all removed ir was again possible to see rhe beautiful arrisrryofrhis unknown carver. Ir was quite remarkable ro stand face-co-face wirh rhe you ng Vicroria and see her very much as rhe original carver had envisaged her over 150 yea rs or more before. The final layers of old paint were rhen removed and small samples were senr ro rhe conservation department of rhe National Mari rime Museum in Greenwich for analysis. Ir was found chat rhere were well over 30 layers, ranging in color from off-white ro a very dark blue, wirh many combinations in between. Ar one poinr she was apparen tl y painred an overall black. One may conjecture thar rhis could have been done around the rum of the last cenrurythe rime of rhe old Queen's death, when monumenrs of rhe Queen would have been draped in black material. At rhis point in rhe projecr all rhe hirherro hidden damage ro the original carving
Figurehead researcher and restorer Richard Hunter carefully cleans the Victoria figurehead in preparation for returning her to her former glory.
SEA HISTORY 94, AUTUMN 2000