Town Hall ceiling restoration

Panels in the Town Hall ceiling restored to their original splendour

Part of the Grade 1 listed ceiling in the Town Hall has been cleaned up to restore the original colour - there are around 360 painted panels which are now so dirty that the colours can no longer be seen.

The Mayor of Rochdale, James Gartside, in his speech at the Mayor Making Ceremony in May 2012 said that he would like to make a start to clean up the ceiling in the Great Hall. Rochdale Online Director John Kay told the Mayor he would like to support this aim and as a result became the Chairman of the Mayor's Charity Committee.

To clean up most of the panels would require Listed Building approval, however, in the 1970s dry rot was discovered in the roof of the Town Hall and a bottom row of panels were removed to allow repairs to the roof. These were replaced with new panels painted on board in the colours of the original panels and then varnished to make them dark to match the rest of the ceiling. The varnish reacted with the paint so that they are now colourless and very unsightly.

Mr Kay explains: "The plan has been to clean up three of these panels and to do this the well known conservationist Liz Hirst was employed. She is currently working in the Palace of Westminster which has many similarities to Rochdale Town Hall.

"After testing out the appropriate solvents, Liz and her team have cleaned up three panels which are now back to their original splendour.

"The cost to do this was £1,000 per panel but the scaffolding cost £3,000 which means that the Mayor's Committee has to raise £6,000 and so far has raised about £2,000."

School children have been visiting the Town Hall while this work has been ongoing and after a conducted tour they have witnessed the conservation work.

Mr Kay added: "It is hoped that once the Town Hall is no longer used by the Council for its office workers we will be able to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund to clean up the whole of the ceiling and that this will attract visitors from throughout the country."