W. M. N.
Whitewashing in Churches (Vol. ix., p. 148.).—Mr. Hudson Turner informs us (Domestic
Architecture in England, vol. i. p. 246.) that as early as the thirteenth century the practice of the whitewashing buildings was universal; and that "the process, so vehemently denounced by modern antiquaries, was liberally applied also to ecclesiastical edifices."
William Kelly.
Leicester.
Mr. Hudson Turner says:
"We are not to consider the practice of whitewashing stonework as a vice peculiar to modern times. Our ancestors had as great an objection to the natural surface of stone, whether in churches or other buildings, as any church wardens or bricklayers of the nineteenth century. Several writs of Henry III. are extant, directing the Norman Chapel in the Tower to be whitewashed. Westminster Hall was whitewashed for the coronation of Edward I.; and many other ancient examples might be cited. In fact it seems to have been the rule to plaster ordinary stonework."—Domestic Architecture in England, p. xxvi.
A far earlier instance of the practice appears in Deuteronomy xxvii. 2.
K's question, however, is scarcely answered by the above, as it cannot be supposed that delicate sculpture was clogged with whitewash until it became obnoxious on religious grounds.
C. R. M.