Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hereford Screen (1862)
In the 1800s, just as Britain was steaming into the future on the cutting edge of the Indus-
trial Revolution, the public's taste went retro. This 35-by-35-foot, eight-ton rood screen
(built for the Hereford Cathedral's sacred altar area) looks medieval, but it was created
with the most modern materials the Industrial Revolution could produce. The metal parts
were not hammered and hand-worked as in olden days, but are made of electroformed cop-
per. The parts were first cast in plaster, then bathed in molten copper with an electric cur-
rent running through it, leaving a metal skin around the plaster. The entire project—which
might have taken years in medieval times—was completed in five months.
George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who built the screen, redesigned all of London in
the Neo-Gothic style, restoring old churches such as Westminster Abbey, renovating the
Houses of Parliament, and building new structures like St. Pancras Station and the Albert
Memorial—some 700 buildings in all.
The world turns, and a century later (1960s), the Gothic style was “out” again, mod-
ernism was in, and this screen was neglected and ridiculed. Considering that the V&A was
originally called the Museum of Manufactures (1857), it's appropriate that the screen was
brought here, where it shows off the technical advances of the Industrial Revolution.
• To the right of the Grand Entrance lobby, look into a large hall of statues (Room 50a),
including a spiraling statue of two battling men.
