Firstly all the roughly carved Victorian wooden blocks were removed over the bolt holes of each angel shield. Then, by making casts of all the irregular openings, we were able to carve new oak blocks in the workshop.
The casts, along with photos, were used as a guide for size, design and style for these new infills on each individual heraldic shield. Once the carving was complete, they were fixed back into the shields on a mobile crane and the carving was paired and stained in.