Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum

The Newton Abbot Museum Conservation Project

HEART OF OAK PROJECT: The Restoration of the Sandford Orleigh Screen PROJECT SUMMARY The Heart of Oak Project is a bid to restore a Renaissance screen and, in doing so, help to broaden the knowledge and skills of the whole community of Newton Abbot.  This rare Renaissance screen of very finely carved wood was donated to the Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum in 2008.  The screen consists of sixteen panels and is thought to date from c.1534. Although the screen was originally housed in St Leonard’s Chapel in Newton Abbot, the panels have secular designs.  When the nave of the Chapel was demolished to widen the road in 1836, the panels were purchased by a local industrialist, George Templer. He used the Renaissance panels to embellish the main chimney breast of his grand residence in Newton Abbot - Sandford Orleigh. The carved wooden panels were held within a framework of supporters and caryatids.  Each panel is unique and contains cornucopia designs and images of pipers and profiles of faces within roundels. The screen, if it could talk, would have been witness to many interesting conversations beneath its carvings.  The Victorian explorer Sir Samuel White Baker, who discovered one of the sources of the Nile, retired to Sandford Orleigh and the screen would have been admired by guests to the Baker’s home, including Edward, Prince of Wales and Gordon of Khartoum.  Gordon succeeded Baker as Governor of the Khartoum region and he spent his last night in England with the Bakers in 1884.   The screen has been saved from destruction by George Templer in the past, and it falls to us to save it from future deterioration now.  Once it is restored it will be displayed in the Town Hall Council Chamber.  The public will have access to this important historic carving for the first time in 174 years.

If you would like to save an important piece of Newton Abbot's history, your donation would be gratefully received.
Please contact the Museum for details of payment or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A certificate will be sent to you in recognition of your donation.

Thank you.

The Sandford screen in the 1970's	The screen today	A peice of the panel