Saving Britain's Art Treasures by Nick McCamley

Author:Nick McCamley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS027100: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781783379040
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2003-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

The chilled-water dehumidifier, installed by the Norris Warming Company in 1942 and still in reasonable condition sixty years later.

Two coal-fired boilers in the underground boilerhouse at Westwood. Fuel was tipped down a pair of vertical shafts from a small yard on the surface, and waste ashes were disposed of by means of a chain-hoist and drum in a dedicated shaft.

Following the initial delay in delivery, the plant was erected in just ten days and first run on 10 November 1941. The results, however, were not promising; after two weeks continuous operation there was no measurable change in the humidity level and high-powered portable dehumidifiers were brought in to help reduce the initial levels to something more manageable. Thereafter the situation slowly improved but the MOWB was compelled to notify the museums that a further three months would be required to dry the quarry adequately. In the meantime it was found that while the plant, running at full power, could just maintain a relative humidity of sixty five per cent, if it was stopped for just a few minutes the humidity rose immediately to ninety per cent. Towards the end of February 1942 a state of equilibrium was achieved, final tests were conducted and on 17 March Mr Bennitt from the MOWB advised Sir Eric Maclagan that:

I am directed by the Ministry of Works and Buildings to inform you that the quarry which has been adapted for storing museum treasures at Westwood near Bath is now complete, subject to minor points of adjustment which will be discussed with your officers locally. Arrangements may, therefore, be made to move your treasures in.

A rota was organized by which artefacts from the British Museum and the V&A arrived on alternate days. All movements of V&A materials were by lorry and the packing and handling was undertaken by expert V&A staff under the guidance of Mr McDouall their most experienced packer. Replying to a query from Muriel Clayton, Sir Eric Maclagan wrote:

McDouall estimates that there are some four lorry loads of stuff in the bomb-proof repository. I understand ‘Woodwork’ will also have some six or eight loads of furniture to go down, making ten or twelve loads in all – about a fortnight’s work.

On top of this, twenty-eight lorry loads had been despatched from Kensington to Montacute at the outbreak of war, and it was expected that of that twenty lorry loads would be transferred to Westwood, a transfer that would take a further three or four weeks to complete.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.