MEMBERS were delighted at the first talk of the year by Diana Lloyd, about the historical use of wallpapers.

She mentioned briefly that ceiling papers with wood designs were used in Germany and Antwerp in the early 1500s, but wallpapers only became fashionable in Britain following the restoration of the monarchy.

The subsequent increase in house building outstripped the availability of pine panelling and the greater cost drove the need for a fashionable alternative. The first slide showed a crewel work design wallpaper from 1680, progressed through cut velvet, damask and other expensive fabric-style wallpapers, and included examples of contemporary block prints.

Miss Lloyd’s talk expanded on the reasons why paper was hung, the methods and materials used, the vagaries of the building trade and how the amount of tax paid as well as fashion drove the various developments.

The next talk will be Everything you Wanted to Know About Magna Carta But Were Afraid to Ask on Tuesday, February 10 at 11am at The Methodist Church, St Edmund’s Church Street, Salisbury. Coffee is available from 10am. Visitors are welcome, entrance costs £7.