The Chancery pleadings are the largest single series of parchment records to have survived the fire in the Public Record office in 1922 during the Irish civil war. To date, 5265 fire-damaged administrative and legal parchment documents dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been part of a long-term conservation programme at the National Archives of Ireland.

 

The skins were overall dusty, often burnt around the edges, heavily creased and folded. They were very fragile to handle, stiff and brittle, and sometimes torn. The main challenge was flattening the documents without risks of damage or increasing tears.

This project was undergoing since several years at the National Archives of Ireland when a small portion of the collection was given to Daniela Fanego and myself, both conservation interns, to continue the conservation treatment.

 

• Survey with photographic and written documentation before treatment

• Dry cleaning with smoke sponge and Staedler eraser. The eraser crumbs were sent to analysis for the identification of animal skins at BioArch laboratory for the CodeX project

• Controlled humidification under humidification chamber

• Flattening with bulldog clips attached with Velcro to a wooden frame to help reshape the parchment

• Left to dry and further flattening under layers of blotters

• Rehousing in archival paper pockets (custom-made)

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