Heritage specialists across the Commonwealth joined Wentworth Woodhouse’s conservation teams for live learning fortnight
Written byJo Davison on behalf of Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust
Published on24 Aug 2026
Rotherham’s Georgian gem Wentworth Woodhouse became a giant classroom this month - giving heritage workers from all corners of the Commonwealth the unique opportunity to join specialists on live restoration tasks.
Architects, archaeologists and heritage preservation practitioners from Antigua to Lesotho, Sierra Leone to India and Canada to New Zealand took part in live heritage conservation repairs at the site’s grand but decaying Grade I listed Stables block and helped to restore a precious statue at the 18th-century mansion. They learned how to work with lime mortar, repair 250-year-old stonework and sash windows and how to carefully remove centuries of environmental damage from the 1750s statue of Germanicus in the mansion’s Pillared Hall.
The new skills and knowledge they developed at Wentworth Woodhouse will enable them to help preserve and repair Commonwealth era heritage buildings and sites in their own countries, and protect them from increases in climate change.
All 24 were taking part in the 2026 Commonwealth Summer School, a three-week conservation training programme designed to help address the global skills and knowledge gap in heritage construction, conservation and restoration across the Commonwealth. Staged by the Commonwealth Heritage Forum and the City & Guilds of London Art School, the introduction to conservation practice and skills programme has been running since 2024.
But this year, organisers provided their hand-selected students with a unique experience - two weeks of work on a live heritage restoration project. It reached out to Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, which is almost 10 years into the multi-million-pound regeneration of its Grade I listed site, which is one of the most important restoration projects in a generation.
“This was the first time the course has been delivered across two locations," said Dr Lois Rowe, Principal of the City & Guilds of London Art School, a leading centre for fine art, craft and conservation education. "Students spent their first week doing skills training with us at the Art School in London, before going on to Wentworth Woodhouse for two weeks of working on a live project, to put that knowledge and expertise into practice.
"We wanted to give students the experience of working on a live project at a heritage site and identified Wentworth Woodhouse as an ideal location. It is one of the largest and most architecturally significant country houses in England, a major example of 18th-century design and craftsmanship.
"In addition, its ongoing restoration calls on a really wide range of heritage skills and expertise, many of which are now in short supply not only in the UK but around the world. It posed many interesting hands-on learning opportunities for our students, and also meant our programme could do something meaningful and worthwhile for this great house."
Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust places education and training as one of its core missions and is currently creating a centre for heritage skills, learning and community engagement within the Stables complex, which is due to launch in 2028.
“We jumped at the opportunity to have people from around the world who are passionate about heritage buildings come to join us on live restoration and repair tasks,” said Simon Gill, WWPT’s Head of Heritage (Buildings).
“It was a huge success and the teaching cut both ways. They learned the best of British heritage conservation techniques and we found out about their heritage Commonwealth buildings, what is needed to care for them and how climate change is making the task even harder.”
The Commonwealth Heritage Forum provided full bursaries covering course fees, accommodation, travel and visa costs to the participants, who included a lime specialist, archaeologists, architects, conservationists and construction specialists. Their common aim was to develop skills so they can help preserve heritage buildings in their home countries.
Ugandan 28-year-old Brenda Nyangoma is currently Lead Architect on conservation projects in Fort Portal City, Western Uganda, including the restoration of the Karambi Royal Tombs.
She said: “I needed to strengthen my hands-on craft skills in traditional building techniques and being at Wentworth Woodhouse has been the best two weeks of my career. I got to be involved in conserving heritage on a giant scale. Learning about lime mortar and how a stone wall is preserved simply by choosing this material was the most fascinating aspect. I am worried that heritage skills will die out in my country if we don’t do something. I am going home with more knowledge and determination to support these skills at conservation projects across Uganda and East Africa.”
Elizabeth Law, 21, is studying heritage conservation at Willowbank School of Restoration Arts in Ontario, Canada, and hopes her passion for joinery, which began at 15, can lead to specialising in heritage carpentry and restoration.
“I found out about the summer school at college and it turned out my friend’s mum knew about Wentworth Woodhouse! She made me realise what an amazing opportunity it would be to work and learn there,” she said. “The stone masonry and lime pointing work experience was exceptional. I’d only ever done the basics. The wow factor was that those stones are 250 years old and part of a listed building.”
Victoria Hellewell is Training and Skills Consultant with The Commonwealth Heritage Forum, a UK-registered charity dedicated to the conservation of the historic built environment across the Commonwealth.
She commented: “I was fortunate to spend time with the Summer School students at Wentworth Woodhouse. It was wonderful to see how completely immersed they were in the work. They came with a huge range of professional experience from across the Commonwealth, but also with a real enthusiasm to learn from the craftspeople around them and from one another.
“That exchange of skills and knowledge is at the heart of the Commonwealth Heritage Forum’s training programme. We want participants to leave not only with new practical skills, but with the confidence and knowledge to share them with colleagues and communities at home, helping to build the local capacity needed to care for historic buildings for generations to come.”
Summer School participants took part in:
Historic Sash Window Conservation – studying the construction and operation of 250-year-old sash windows, assessing their condition, and undertaking supervised repairs such as replacing sash cords, addressing timber decay, and restoring glazing under the tuition of Wentworth Woodhouse volunteer Steve Woodhouse, who recently acquired the skills.
Heritage Stone Repair & Stone Consolidation – learning how historic masonry deteriorates, diagnosing stone decay and carrying out repairs using conservation-grade materials alongside experts from York-based Pinnacle Conservation.
Lime Pointing – exploring the properties of traditional lime mortars, why they are essential to historic buildings, and practising correct mixing and pointing techniques with Lee Gillard of the Yorkshire Lime Company.
Cleaning an 18th-century Italian marble statue — using specific conservation techniques, students cleaned the statue of Ancient Roman General and politician Germanicus, who was father to the emperor Caligula. It was created in the 1750s for the Second Marquess of Rockingham by Italian Filippo Della Valle, whose work adorns Rome’s Trevi Fountain. It is believed the statue once stood in the mansion’s Marble Saloon. It was moved to the Camellia House in the gardens, where it suffered exposure to humidity under glass, and the elements when the glass failed. It now stands in the Pillared Hall.
