The New Murrey and Blue blog

I imagine that quite a few of those reading this will remember the old saying quoted in the title above. It was what I was always told when I’d mislaid something and asked if my mother, father, grandmother etc. knew where it was.

Needless to say, finding something exciting behind the wallpaper has never been one of my life’s highlights. Well, unless you include an extremely rude drawing in one house, which cricked my neck when I tried to fathom whose limb was whose.

When I first read this Yorkshire Post article and saw the illustration I hoped the wall paintings would be medieval, but it seems not. They go back to the 1660s, the English Civil War, so are fairly old anyway. Of course, being in Micklegate, York, is a definite help when it comes to the odds of finding something like this. The paintings are actually on the wall of the building next door, and the rest of the flat is a newer build. I’m afraid my 1960s bungalow is all 1960s, so there’s no chance at all of me making a similar find!

But Mr Luke Budworth, the owner of the flat with the exciting paintings, has been very careful to protect everything , even to having a full-size high-res copy made to put over the original, to preserve its colours from sunlight. He wants to do the right thing, but the cost of proper conservation is prohibitive. Fingers crossed he is able to find the resources to save this rare piece of York’s past for posterity.