Salt damage at Cleeve Abbey, England

This paper discusses the application of the ECOS program to provide an insight into the salt deterioration problems affecting the C13th wall paintings in the Sacristy at Cleeve Abbey, Somerset. The work was realised through a combined process of sampling and analysis, condition assessment and documentation, and environmental monitoring. Analytical data were input into the ECOS program to obtain predictions for the phase transition behaviour of the salts present. By drawing together the different investigative strands of the project, the source of significant discrepancies between observed and predicted salt behaviour was identified. Once this had been addressed, the resulting thermodynamic calculations not only correlated well with the in situ observations and recordings, but also offered a plausible explanation for the dynamic deterioration processes taking place.