Most highly decorative Tudor gallery in Europe safeguarded by conservators

For the first time, visitors to The Vyne in Hampshire can experience the full glory of the 82 feet (25 metre) long Oak Gallery covered from floor to ceiling in over 400 finely carved heraldic panels. Portraits and furniture that have dressed the gallery for nearly two hundred years have been moved to show off the carvings this year, with some items displayed elsewhere in the house. Emblems previously hidden from view include that of Sir Thomas More, whom Henry made Lord Chancellor in 1529, in the hope that he would succeed where Wolsey failed, to obtain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

After a recent successful £5.4 million roof project to make The Vyne watertight, humidity in the gallery dropped significantly, exacerbating cracks and warping caused by years of expansion and contraction. Previous restoration work had also begun to fail.

Specialist conservators stabilised the panels, repaired cracks and woodworm damage and re-grained the paneling to enhance the historic wood grain effect.

The richly decorated Oak Gallery is a Tudor showcase of the most powerful names in Henry’s court, from Cardinal Wolsey and Catherine of Aragon to local officials and the King himself. Seen by everyone from courtly rivals to tenants late with their payments, the room was designed to make a statement.

The Vyne was owned by royal favourite, William Sandys, who became Henry’s Lord Chamberlain in 1526 and created the Oak Gallery to show his powerful connections.

Henry visited The Vyne three times between 1509 and 1535, accompanied by Catherine of Aragon and later Anne Boleyn. Sandys was a staunch supporter of Catherine, and her personal emblem, the pomegranate, appears 49 times in the carvings. It symbolised fertility and her homeland of Spain. In 1535 Henry visited with Anne but just a year later, Sandys escorted Anne to her imprisonment and execution in the Tower of London, proving his allegiance to the King, who was free to marry Jane Seymour.

As part of the conservation of the gallery, research has identified the symbolism behind the majority of emblems, but that of Sir Thomas More’s remains a mystery: a rebus or picture puzzle of an ox head above two fish-like monsters. And one emblem still remains unidentified - a beautifully carved knight’s helmet, created anonymously in the late 1980s to early 1990s to replace a panel that had disintegrated.

The complex conservation project involved a team of specialists working with National Trust staff. Dendrochronologists used tree ring data to date the timber to 1519 when construction on the Oak Gallery began, and identified the wood as Baltic oak from Lithuania. Paint experts have revealed that the panels were coated in a red oxide then painted in a red-brown colour to hide the sap that bled from the wood.

After each panel was carefully cleaned splits were closed with thin fillets of oak to provide stability, with some small sections re-carved. Woodworm and deathwatch beetle damage was repaired.

The panels had several coats of paint over the centuries with the most recent, Victorian scheme, being a hand-painted wood grain effect. Where repairs were made, the panels were re-grained to blend in.

Loredana Mannina, National Trust Senior National Conservator said: “The Oak Gallery at The Vyne is a remarkable example of Tudor craftsmanship and storytelling through woodcarving. This latest conservation project has not only helped protect its intricate decorative scheme but has also unveiled new insights into its history, construction, and past alterations.

“Much of the conservation work was carried out in situ, providing visitors with a rare opportunity to witness expert conservation in action. Conservation at the National Trust is not just about preserving objects but about uncovering the stories they hold, ensuring that our heritage remains engaging and meaningful for future generations.”

Dominique Shembry, the National Trust Collections and House Manager said: “The history contained in this space is staggering. It’s full of drama as well as beauty and it must have wowed everyone who saw it, including the King.

“There are 406 carved panels filled with badges, crests and initials and featuring the kind of heraldic symbols you might expect to see, such as shields, but there are some very bizarre ones too. There is a creature with the head of a horse and the tail of a fish, known as a hippocamp.

“Rather poignantly, during the conservation work we also discovered scraps of drawings and letters tucked behind gaps in the paneling, left by the boys of Tormore School who were evacuated here during the Second World War.”

The 500-year-old Oak Gallery has seen many changes in its history. It was nearly lost when William Wiggett Chute inherited The Vyne in the 1840s and was faced with the choice of knocking it down or renovating it. He recorded:

“It was impossible to reduce the size of the house, which could only be done by pulling down the Chapel at one end, or the Gallery at the other, or the staircase in the centre, which are all rather historical and could not with any regard to taste or good feeling be removed, and I was obliged therefore to undertake the repair of the whole as it stood.

“The whole house having been very damp, some few of the panels have been injured and nearly eaten through, especially near the fireplace, and were repaired and back lined.”
William Lyde Wiggett Chute, Reminiscences, 1872

Visitors can discover the story of the Oak Gallery and its recent conservation through daily talks and displays. Later this year, people unable to access the Oak Gallery, which is on the first floor, will be able to enjoy a 360-degree virtual visit.