Published
Silvano Cioci Faux carried out conservation cleaning, stabilisation and inpainting on William G. Simmonds' 1935 Arts and Crafts altarpiece. This film records the parish celebration when the cycle returned to daily worship.
The church and the altarpiece
The Shrine and Parish Church of St Oswald and St Edmund Arrowsmith on Liverpool Road is a Grade II* French Romanesque landmark with Harry Clarke glass and fixtures by noted designers.
In the St Joseph chapel, Simmonds' multi panel altarpiece from 1935 narrates the life of Saint Joseph in an Arts and Crafts idiom familiar to inter war Catholic interiors in the North West.
Conservation treatment
Silvano assessed the panels in situ, then carried out conservation cleaning, stabilisation and inpainting where necessary, respecting Simmonds' palette and the narrative cycle (Annunciation, Nativity, Temple, Flight into Egypt, Hidden Life and Death of Joseph).
The goal was a stable surface and readable story for daily Mass and devotions in the St Joseph chapel, aligned with long term ecclesiastical work across the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
What the parish film records
The YouTube video captures the solemnity Mass when the parish introduced the restored altarpiece to the congregation, with the priest presenting the conserved work.
See the St Oswald's Ashton in Makerfield case study on this site for scope, context and links to architectural history resources.
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