A man from England who was getting his kitchen renovated was shocked to discover that there were historic 400-year-old paintings of “national significance”—on the wall of his flat.
In December 2022, Luke Budworth, 29, had temporarily moved out of his one-bedroom apartment on Micklegate, one of the main streets in York, England, as his kitchen was getting renovated.
Budworth received a call from his kitchen fitters informing him that they'd discovered a piece of painting under his kitchen cupboard.
But Budworth, who is a medical researcher at Leeds University, knew there was a parallel piece of wood on the other side of the chimney that would have a similar painting.
“I never thought anything of it before, I thought they were pipes behind it,” Budworth said. “We always knew there was an odd piece of the wall but just thought the flat was really wonky as it’s been a million different things over the years.”
Excited, Budworth grabbed his tools and started to rip the wall off.
“At first, I thought it was old Victorian wallpaper, but soon I could see it was actually drawn onto the wall of the building next door—so it’s older than this building itself,” Budworth said. “It’s estimated that it’s from around the 1660s, so the civil war era.”
The painting features scenes from a 1635 book called “Emblems” by poet Francis Quarles. These include a man in a cage pulled by an angel, as well as another man in a white cart.
Budworth found it interesting that the painting was there even before the Great Fire of London and other famous historic events.
Coincidentally, when Budworth, originally from Warrington, Cheshire, first moved to York in October 2020, one of the things that drew him to the area was its historical significance.
“One of the main draws to me living in York was that it’s so historical. Now to know that the history isn’t just outside it’s inside my flat too is amazing,” Budworth said.
Although he’s very excited to find this piece of history, it’s been very hard for Budworth to find external funding, and the conservation fees are in the thousands of pounds.
Until he finds funding for the conservation work to be carried out on the painting, Budworth said, he has printed off a high-resolution version of the painting and put the replica on top to cover them up.
“I’ve covered them up for now so direct sunlight doesn’t hit them and make them lose their color,” he said. “Hopefully we can get the word out and see if any societies or Ph.D. students want to do some experimental conservation projects.”
Budworth also hopes his discovery inspires other people in Micklegate to start looking behind their own walls.
A senior architectural investigator from Historic England, a government-run preservation group, said it was an “exciting rediscovery.”
“We think they are of national significance and in the context of York, where domestic wall paintings are quite rare, they are of special interest,” he said.
Historic England has covered the friezes and helped preserve them.
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