Saving a bit of history…

Apollo’s thumb, Hercules’ foot, a tiger’s whisker, fragments of wallpaper and droplets from a crystal chandelier, these are just some of the items that you will find in a National Trust bit-box. Fascinating boxes that contain broken items, fixtures and fittings, stored until such a time that they can be repaired.

Historic houses such as Anglesey Abbey, Oxburgh Hall and Ickworth House are home to large collections of treasures. Over time and everyday wear and tear ‘bits’ inevitably fall off, break and require repairing. However, these items are never thrown out, they are carefully catalogued, recording where the item was found and when, before it’s put into storage until such a time that it can be restored.

Throughout the year, National Trust properties will have something known as a ‘bit day’, when it is felt that bits have reached a ‘critical mass’ to merit a day of in-situ repairs. These occur usually once a year for furniture at our larger properties but only occasionally for other materials. The most common items that were discovered in bit-boxes at the end of 2008 in the East of England were:

• Wooden carved pieces
• Furnishings – e.g. tassels
• Wallpaper fragments
• Gilding
• Plasterwork

Some of the more bizarre objects that are currently in National Trust bit-boxes include Apollo’s thumb and Hercules’ foot, both of which have fallen off statues at Anglesey Abbey. Mercury’s wing from his helmet has been recorded at Wimpole Hall and there are tiger’s whiskers from a tiger skin rug at Oxburgh Hall. Then at Shaw’s Corner there is a broken fountain pen from George Bernard Shaw’s desk, as well as pieces of a card fish-patterned frieze from the Servants' Lavatory and an umbrella spoke from one of Shaw's umbrellas! There is even a piece of the carved door to the Banqueting House at Melford Hall!

Some of the smaller items include, a bead from a beaded purse on display at Oxburgh; fragments of a ceramic flower where the smallest pieces measure 1mm x 1mm that was found at Anglesey Abbey. A label from one of the grand tour paintings with the date c.1739 has been recorded at Felbrigg; chandelier droplets at Wimpole Hall; not forgetting the fragments of glass from a glass vase broken in the scullery at Shaw’s Corner.

In comparison, some of the larger items on bit-box inventories include a chunk of pink and white marble from an outdoor statue's pedestal at Anglesey Abbey, a metal window closure from one of the windows in the Great Hall at Felbrigg, a 1920s car wheel at Shaw’s Corner and what is thought to be a terracotta horse that has come off the external frieze of the Rotunda at Ickworth! At Blickling, there are even some lead plaques from the down pipes that depict a bull, the symbol of Blickling.

National Trust Regional Conservator, Chris Calnan, explains why maintaining a well kept and documented bit box is a vitally important aspect of the unseen activities of National Trust property staff. “These unseen bit-boxes are important repositories for chips, scraps, fragments, breaks and the odd find under floorboards, all of which we look after carefully until the right moment for their return. A few years ago we had a narrow strip of painted canvas which had been lying in the Blickling bit box for over 35 years. When the flood occurred at Blickling in 2002 this offered us the chance to reveal the hidden painted ceiling in the Brown Drawing Room, decorated with the same canvas strips and we were delighted to be able to reinstate the missing canvas”.

Why not book yourself a place on one of the behind the scenes tours that will be taking place at many National Trust properties throughout 2009 and find out more about just what’s involved in conserving collections. Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk to find out more.