Restoration in line for award (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Restoration in line for award

A RESTORATION project to restore a Georgian religious artwork is in line for a prestigious Heritage Heroes award.

The Decalogue project at Temple Guiting village church has been shortlisted in the Built Heritage category of the awards, run by the Heritage Lottery Fund in the South West.

It is up against Shirehampton Public Hall Clock in Bristol, Nothe Fort in Weymouth and Steep Holm Barracks Visitor Centre in Weston-super-Mare.

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony at Ashton Court, Bristol, on March 24, to be attended by author and TV historian Tristram Hunt.

Adrian Tinniswood, chairman of the judges, said the awards, which are in their second year, offer a chance to celebrate the achievements of a wide range of people who give their time and energy to ensure that our past is preserved and that its place in today's world is better understood.

The Decalogue or reredos was restored and put back on the wall at St Mary's Church in Temple Guiting in 2004 after gathering dust in a storeroom for 120 years.

The set of highly-carved, ornate gilded boards, which measure 18ft by 17ft, date from 1750 and cost £37,000 to restore, with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gloucestershire Historic Churches Trust.

Experts who have been carrying out the delicate conservation work said the Decalogue is of national importance.