£200k to save Black Country angels

English painter Edward Reginald Frampton, who specialised in murals, painted the four archangels, the tree of knowledge and other angels onto the walls of Rushall Parish Church in the early 20th century but the artworks have deteriorated over the decades and the paint has been flaking off.

After a huge fundraising campaign to raise the cash needed for improvements to the building – also known as St Michael the Archangel Church – a team of conservationists have at last arrived to work on the pictures.

This is the final phase of the project that has seen a new heating system installed and windows and the stonework cleaned as part of efforts to preserve the colourful murals at the church in Leigh Road.

The work on the paintings is being carried out by internationally renowned conservators Lisa Shekede and Stephen Rickerby, who are based in London.

As part of the process Lisa has painstakingly cleaned the wall surrounding the figure of the archangel Gabriel with thin paper and cotton buds. He is featured in the nativity story in the Bible.

When the cleaning and rubbing down stage is completed the pair will then begin the intricate process of placing the individual flakes of paint that have fallen from the wall, back into position using specialist techniques.

St Michael's spokesman Bob Barnard says: "When the conservators arrived they found that the condition of the paintings was different depending on their location up the walls.

"The higher up they are above the chancel, the worse the flaking has been. Some of the individual flakes are quite big in size.

"These will be delicately put back into position. The worst sections of damage are near the organ pipes and the ceiling.

"This work will preserve the paintings for future generations to enjoy. And stop them from flaking again."

He said a new heating systems had made a big difference to conditions in the church.

He said: "This stripping has happened over many years. We used to have condensation in the church, but since we got rid of the open gas fires and replaced the heating system six years ago we haven't had any problems with this and there has been little deterioration since then."

Worshippers have so far raised £93,000 towards the cost of the restoration project by holding fairs and other community events, plus a further £81,000 grant was awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund after the parish submitted an application for assistance.

Scaffolding has been installed across the north and south transepts and above the chancel to allow the experts to get close to the paintings.

The artwork is believed to be one of only three frescoes by Frampton left in churches in Britain with smaller examples located in Hastings, in East Sussex, and Southend, in Essex.

In 1997 the parochial church council sought advice from experts on how best to conserve the pre-Raphaelite paintings and an environmental monitoring report led to the heating system being changed.

Rev Colin Such, vicar at Rushall Parish Church said: "We are delighted that work on this final phase is about to start. We are grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point especially church members and people in the wider community who have given their time and money.

"We still need around £9,000 to completely fund it, so any further donations would be welcome.

"We are also delighted that the work is to be carried out by Lisa Shekede and Stephen Rickerby who have been involved with the project from the start. They are internationally known conservators who have worked in Malta, Bhutan, Georgia and Ethiopia among others countries."

Well-wishers who would like to donate towards the appeal are now being invited to sponsor sections of the wall paintings in a bid to pull in as much funding as possible to cover the remaining cost.

The final phase of work is expected to be completed before the end of March.