Issue 40 winter 23 web - Flipbook - Page 52
Elizabethan Garden
Obelisks, Kenilworth
Castle, Warwickshire
Chroma Conservation Ltd. are happy to present our recently completed project for
English Heritage in the beautifully reimagined Elizabethan Gardens at Kenilworth Castle,
Warwickshire.
The castle was founded in the 1120’s during the Norman
conquest of England and was one of the most formidable
Medieval Lake fortresses in the country.
We were extremely lucky with the weather in August
through to September 2023 whilst we carried out the
restoration of the recreated obelisks in the shadow of the
magnificent red sandstone castle ruins.
The over five-metre-high obelisks are made of green oak
but were painted to simulate the precious stone Egyptian Porphyry, as written testament from 1575 states,
and they formed part of the Italianate gardens which
were the first of their kind in England, created by Sir
Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, to impress Queen
Elizabeth I.
He had also turned the Castle into a fashionable
Renaissance palace where the Queen had an extended
visit.