Ludlow man Stuart Preece is one of the few remaining expert restorers of priceless historic decorative plastered walls and ceilings – the work of famous artists commissioned hundreds of years ago to adorn some of the finest properties in Britain and abroad.

Over the past 28 years he’s worked on famous homes such as Stokesay Court and Downton Court near Ludlow, others through English Heritage, the National Trust in both England and Wales, and has also become a rare tutor on the subject.

He worked for the London-based Eminsky Trust for seven years as well as Transylvania in Romania for four.

There he was training local craftsmen desperately in need of the skills required to make repairs to the fantastically-decorated properties found there.

Towards the end of last year, Stuart and his small team from S Preece Traditional Plasterwork were working on a project at a property on the banks of the River Thames at Church House, Lechlade, Gloucestershire.

An historic repair

They were repairing a gazebo which is reputedly where the famous English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote two of his poems.

They spent eight months working on the project.

Stuart said: “We had to stabilise the whole building, because it was in such a poor condition. We had to analyse all of it because we had to find out what type of sand and lime and animal hair had been used to build it. We’ve also had to source stones for it from the Thames.”

All this stemmed from humble beginnings when Stuart, who went to Ludlow School, trained in basic plasterwork at Shrewsbury College of Art & Technology. He never thought he’d end up doing the type of work he does now.

He said: “I thought I’d just be doing run of the mill plastering on my knees in normal houses.”

Today Stuart can be found repairing priceless ancient decorative plasterwork in beautiful properties.

Instead of being on his knees he’s up on ladders and scaffolding making painstaking repairs to decorative ceilings and walls.

He takes mouldings from remaining plasterwork in order to product sections and then fix and restore, to bring the whole section back to its former glory.

The art of preservation

Stuart said: “In the late 1980s I got involved with a guy from English Heritage. Most of the work we were doing was for English Heritage and then the revival rule came out.

“If something was built with lime then you had to repair it with original materials, for example the same sands and the same aggregates.

He added: “I’ve worked with some fantastic sculptors and carvers along the way. I’ve met so many people with such an abundance of knowledge.”

Stuart began working with the Ludlow conservation officer Colin Richards before getting involved with the National Trust.

He started out as an apprentice from college and since then he has trained his own apprentices while also teaching at The Traditional Lime Company in Cheltenham.

Passing on skills

Stuart said: “Although people were teaching normal plasterwork, no-one was teaching traditional plasterwork and stonework and there were no colleges doing decorative traditional plasterwork.”

Stuart isn’t allowed to mention all of the clients he has worked for, although he did especially enjoy working at Downton Hall near Ludlow.

“It’s one of the best halls in Shropshire,” he said.

It is believed that one of the great Italian artists, Francesco Vassalli decorated it.

Stuart said: “Vassalli was commissioned to do Hagley Hall and Coombe Hall in Gloucestershire. The music room at Downton Hall is spectacular, and although there are no records to say Vassalli did the work, it is so typical of his style and flow of carving.”

Italian style

“It is almost a replica of what is in Hagley Hall,” says Stuart.

“On the walls are cherubs and violins and rabbits running through wheat and barley and even a carving of the sculptor himself. At certain times of the day, the walls come alive.”

At other times Stuart would be working on medieval properties, repairing wattle and daub walls dating back to 1580.

“On one job we made our own chestnut lath,” said Stuart.

At the start of this year he was due to be working on the banqueting hall of Trawscoed Mansion near Aberystwyth.

Stuart said: “There’s an abundance of decorations to the walls and ceilings. A segment of the ceiling has collapsed.”

It will be an expensive job, using expensive materials, done by one of the few craftsmen left who knows how to do it.