RICH rewards are the result of the conservation work being carried out on the magnificent statue of St Christopher from Norton Priory.

Head of sculpture conservation John Larson was delighted to discover that the earliest paint on the St Christopher statue's finely carved robes was bright red.

John, who is working on the statue at the Conservation Centre in Liverpool, said that "only the tiniest fragments have survived 600 centuries of wear and tear, but they are enough to show how spectacular the statue must have looked."

Earlier work by John, using high-tech laser equipment to remove later layers of paint, had shown that the saint's bushy beard and flowing hair were originally painted dark grey and his face a flesh colour.

Added John: "St Christopher's cloak was usually painted red in medieval times and the use of naturalistic colouring for the hair and face is in keeping with the high level of realism with which the statue was carved 600 years ago."

Jon Marrow, senior keeper for the Norton Priory Museum Trust said: "This is just the sort of information we had hoped the conservation would provide but it is important to remember that the fragments of paint are microscopic so that when the statue is returned to Norton Priory Museum it will have the overall appearance of weathered sandstone."

Jon has special cause to celebrate because the Pilgrim Trust has just provided a grant of £10,000 for the gallery.

He said: "We had once feared we were going to have to scale the project down because of cost increases.

"This grant is brilliant news because it means we can now return to the original high specification for the gallery and give St Christopher the home he deserves"

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