Ten-year repainting project nears completion at Holkham Hall

Nearly 10 years after work began – and around 400 windows later – Holkham Hall is reaching the end of a major project to repaint all of its window frames.

The first stage of application of Holkham Linseed Paint to the Hall’s windows began in 2002, and the window restoration team is headed up by Maurice Bray, who has worked at the estate since 1958.

The project is anticipated to finish in the next 12 months and only the interior courtyard windows of the Grade One listed hall remain unpainted.

Every frame will eventually be painted in linseed, a specialist environmentally-friendly paint, which can last up to 15 years. Used across Europe since the early 18th century, linseed paint has been enjoying a revival in the UK thanks to its environmental credentials and long life span.

Holkham Linseed Paints was established by Lord Coke in 2002 and are endorsed by the Holkham Estate. Derived from natural pure linseed oil, using renewable and sustainable resources, the paint has proved a long-term and cost effective way of maintaining the estate’s properties. 

“There are certainly more windows than days in the year,” said estate surveyor James Bracey, commenting on the scale of the job. “Previously they were painted on the outside and varnished on the inside. Today they are painted externally and waxed internally, and all work is undertaken in full agreement with English Heritage.”