Abstract

Though the parish churches of the Church of England (CofE) collectively hold in their object collections cultural property of such quality and significance as to make them the envy of some museums, there is presently little coherent provision for the care of these collections, or written guidance on what such provisions should be, or do. Taking the collections of the consecrated churches of the Diocese of Lincoln as its point of reference this study explores the current provisions for collection care available to CofE churches and makes recommendations for how these could be improved upon. Research methods include qualitative and quantitative survey input from church users, qualitative interviews with representatives of the CofE and heritage professions, primary and secondary case studies, theoretical sources from within and without the heritage field, and third-party organisational management and project management theories. Reference is made throughout to the contextual importance of the three primary stakeholders in church conservation: the CofE, church users, and the conservation profession. An analysis of sufficiency first shows that there is a necessity to improve collection care in churches, whilst an assessment of need formalises what is required to do so. A discussion of the scope that these improvements should cover leads to the conclusion that the key to sufficient collection care in churches lies in effective decision-making, whereby all avenues of thought are given equal weighting, for the collective and sustainable benefit of the objects, their users and the organisation. Recommendations are made for practical ways in which church collection care could be improved upon, supported by reference to the notional considerations which should underpin any such solutions. In initiating research into an as yet largely under-represented field of conservation study, this paper will contribute to future research into similar topics, and facilitate future phases of development in the field of church collection care.