The removal and conservation problems of a twelfth-century stone screen, with notes on Purbeck marble

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INTRODUCTION In early 1984, the conservation section of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory was asked to help with the removal of a large, badly deteriorated twelfth-century screen made of Purbeck marble, found embedded in the structure of the only surviving wall of Southwick Priory, a monastic foundation in the south of England. As late twelfth-century stone screens rarely survive in England, the discovery was one of some importance. The condition of the stone required the presence of a team of conservators, and an emergency programme was organized to record and dismantle the screen in sections for subsequent conservation. Although the work was carried out 2-3 metres above ground, the modus operandi was similar to a normal archaeological lifting exercise. The screen, with severe deterioration of the marble, well known for its poor weathering properties, required very careful excavation from a matrix of brick and mortar. It also needed maximum protective support during its subsequent dismantling and transportation 120km to the conservation laboratory. This paper provides a summary of the first practical phase of the conservation project: the fieldwork and the methods used for the successful removal of a large and very fragile stone s~ulpture. It discusses briefly some problems of conservation of this English 'marble'.