It would appear that one of the last things that polar explorer Ernest Shackleton laid eyes on was Lincrusta pattern no.    This would have been as he gazed up from the bed in his cabin on the Quest – his final resting place.

This discovery came about through a project commissioned by the Ernest Shackleton Museum to have the cabin from the Quest restored. This cabin from Shacketon’s last voyage was brought back to Ireland from Norway, where it had been used as a family shed, and was lovingly restored by historical object conservator Sven Habermann from Conservation Letterfrack.

Sven spotted a Lincrusta wallcovering adorning the ceiling of the cabin and got in touch. Mike Wilson from Highly Decorated, one of our approved installers, had recently created a mould for this very design, pattern number 619, for a house in London, so was able to supply Sven with the mould and to guide him through the creation of his own replica panels.

The wonderful journey of this conservation is recorded in a documentary by Moondance productions for RTE and is available on BBCiPLAYER. The image here is when Sven met Andy Sarson, our production and technical manager, and Mike Wilson in our showroom.

Image credits:

Black & White Historic image: Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University

Restored cabin: Conservation Letterfrack