Thomas Hardy altarpiece is returned to its original splendour Cleaning and repairing a famous reredos... Project overview A highly decorative altarpiece (known as a reredos) designed and drawn by the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy – who also trained as an architect and worked as a draughtsman in the 1860s, contributing to designs for a number of churches – was discovered by chance when a torch was shone behind a panel during a search for the church’s foundation stone. Thanks to donations from the Thomas Hardy Society, Prince Philip Trust, Louis Baylis Trust and the general public, a programme of works to reveal the altarpiece took place. Summary of conservation work Cliveden Conservation were contracted to clean and repair the forgotten treasure which had been hidden for nearly a century.

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