Raising the Roof!

A look at the homes of two families who battled to defend their beliefs and the divinely inspired masterpieces they contain.

In the shadow of Bodmin Moor lies the grand Jacobean mansion Lanhydrock, the family seat of the Robartes family. Its grand long gallery, a 17th-century survival of a 19th-century fire, is undergoing a huge conservation project, with every single square centimetre of the ceiling requiring cleaning, stabilising and repainting.

In Warwickshire, an even larger conservation project is in progress. At Tudor manor Coughton Court, the very fabric of the building needs essential work, without which the historic collection inside the house is at risk. A specialist team are on site to preserve, repair and improve the roofs and facades of the building.

Meanwhile, a rare Catholic treasure from the house's collection - the Tabula Eliensis, a unique painting of the coats of arms of Catholic gentlemen interned by Elizabeth I - needs to be sent away for essential conservation. The roof project has presented a unique opportunity: using a crane to hoist the tabula out and up into the air through a tiny slot cut in the ceiling before the new roof is in place.