Charter Lighting’s Portfolio

We specialise in LED lighting solutions for castles, palaces, stately homes, museums and properties of historic and national importance. We work with the major heritage organisations helping them to achieve their environmental targets whilst meeting the very high lighting standards required in their estates, covering …

We are proud to have been working with many great clients for so many years. Here are some select showcases of our work.

~ Archers’ Hall, Edinburgh, UK ~

The Clubhouse for the Royal Company of Archers in Edinburgh, Scotland, presents a dozen 8-foot high portraits of historic luminaries, together with an astonishing new portrait of HM The Queen. Prior to the visit by Her Majesty in July 2016, Charter Lighting was commissioned to replace the problematic halogen tube lighting and introduce an approach which lit each work evenly right down to the base of the canvases. Working closely with the personnel at Archers Hall, our engineers were on hand through all stages of installation and focusing. Charter’s unique individually lensed LED modules were selected for the specific requirements of each piece, and all lights finely balanced with each other to ensure a harmony throughout the space.

The Club are absolutely delighted with the results.

~ Caledonian Club, London, UK ~

One of London’s most august private members’ clubs, The Caledonian Club was frustrated by the frequency of halogen bulbs blowing in picture lights that were hard to reach and thus expensive and time consuming to change. An initial project to light the dining room proved so successful that it led to a programme of further works to completely overhaul much of their picture lighting. More recently the main staircase and hall, which contain several important floor length portraits, have been transformed by Charter’s picture lights. These works are now illuminated beautifully, and some of the existing picture lights in the entrance area have also been successfully retrofitted with new LED components.

~ Honourable Artillery Club, London, UK ~

The Honourable Artillery Company is, despite the obvious military connotations, a haven of calm in the centre of the bustling capital, and one which is frequently used as a home-from-home retreat by members of our Royal Family. It is considered one of the oldest military organisations in the world, tracing its history back as far as 1087 and subsequently being incorporated in 1537 by Royal Charter from Henry VIII. Many of the substantial royal portraits had been previously lit using halogen picture lights. The most important of these have now been retrofitted with the new LED technology systems, ensuring years of maintenance free use. In this instance, Charter’s LED modules were specially-adapted to connect to the existing power-rail provision in the original picture lights. The Company Colours - two historic flags - have also now been illuminated for the first time with Charter’s special LED Art Lights, the fragile colours being displayed in protective glazed frame-ware which required careful filtration of the light to prevent distorting reflections.

~ Hever Castle, Kent, UK ~

Lighting the Dining Hall at Hever Castle created a stunning and atmospheric ambience, enhancing the beauty of this historic venue. Hever Castle is famous for being the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. The Great Hall, as it was known in the 15th Century, is a central and grand space within the castle and can be a wonderful setting for various events, including weddings, receptions, or special occasions. Various forms of lighting;  traditional picture lights, LED strip and spotlights were used to light the different features within the space.  Features included the carved wooden panelling running along and below the Minstrels’ Gallery; the wall above the fireplace to highlight the stag’s head and carved crest; the quarter portraits at the far end and of the hall, and the magnificent – and huge – tapestry. Lighting these areas improved the lighting generally throughout the space, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere whilst showcasing the castle’s historical charm.

~ Oriental Club, London, UK ~

The Oriental Club, nestled in the heart of London, stands as a bastion of refined elegance and cultural heritage. In 2018 we were commissioned to light the club’s paintings in the Dining Room, Member’s Bar and Ante room.  Our Gallery style picture lights were used throughout, matching the traditional style of the rooms.

In 2024, the Dining Room underwent a major refurbishment and we were asked to make some additional lights and adapt the existing ones to conform to the new lighting protocols – which were to be operated on DALI dimming circuitry via Casambi WiFi controls.

A few of the existing lights also needed to be modified slightly to provide protection against glare - as there was to be new banquet seating placed directly underneath the two tallest portraits.  For these, of course, the LED modules were fitted with the optimum light-projecting lenses to make sure light coverage extended down the full height of the canvas, so it was important not to prejudice this.  

We were able to design and 3D print in—house some carefully shaped baffles for the purpose.  These contained special anti-glare honeycomb and, when they were inserted across each of the lensed LED modules, the subtle control they exerted worked perfectly.  Of course, the use of such baffle technique also dampened the light intensity, so additional LED modules were fitted into the original heads to compensate, lifting the overall light levels up and back in line with the other picture lights around the room. 

With the new décor, furnishings and lighting the whole room has been completely transformed.   The gold based background colour to the sumptuous fabric wallpaper also acted as the perfect foil to our picture lights, which effectively disappeared from view – leaving just their beautiful, calm light falling uniformly across each of the canvases as if by magic.

~ Royal Yacht Squadron, Isle of White, UK ~

Based in Cowes Castle, the clubhouse of The Royal Yacht Squadron is one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world. A collection full of portraits and some of the most beautiful racing yachts since inception in 1815 surround the visitor in this elegant context. Driven by frustration at the demands of frequent lamp changing and high energy costs, the Club approached the team at Charter Lighting to replace their picture lights, and the change has been truly transformative. The pictures are now lit fully and evenly, allowing the members to really appreciate their fine collection properly for the very first time. Energy costs have also been substantially reduced to one-sixth of their previous level.

The Royal Yacht Squadron have had their Gallery Picture Lights since 2013. So, more than ten years later when some of the LED’s in some of the lights reached the end of their natural life, they could easily and inexpensively be replaced with new generation LED modules which simply clip onto the original power rail in the legacy hardware. There was no need to throw the picture light hardware away and start again. No other picture lights have this maintainable facility - it is unique to Charter Lighting!

~ Fishmongers Hall,
London, UK ~

Founded in 1272 The Fishmongers’ Company ranks fourth in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies. The livery hall sits firmly overlooking London bridge dripping with paintings of London through the years, fishmonger’s scenes and portraits and of course the single most iconic portrait of HM The Queen, painted by Pietro Annigoni in 1955. Driven primarily by the need to show these works to best effect, the facilities team worked with their curator to identify a supplier which would achieve this most effectively. Impressed also by Charter’s unique LED lamp approach which enables them to fully adjust and replace the lamps in time, the solution provided a future proof approach which would light these works for a generation without attention. The initial project to replace the picture lights in the old and Walworth rooms has been followed by a program to upgrade their existing picture lights using the Academy retrofit approach.

~East India Club, St James Square, London, UK ~

The East India Club is a traditional gentleman’s club, that was founded in 1849.  The Club’s original members were limited to those who had an association with The East India Company and those who served in India – but within the first two decades of the club’s foundation, the East India Company started to lose its Indian possessions and was subsequently wound up.  Since then, the club amalgamated with the Sports Club, the Public Schools Club and the Devonshire, all of which ran with the twin problems of keeping up membership numbers and coping with the escalating maintenance costs of their historic buildings.

Energy consumption and maintenance of traditional lamps are high on the agenda for all managers of substantial ancient buildings.   With this in mind, one of the first areas that the club has addressed is its picture lighting.  By converting these to LED running and maintenance costs would be substantially reduced with the added benefit also of enhancing the interior décor and ambience generally.

We have been working with secretary Alex Bray for the past couple of years now on a gradual programme to upgrade the picture lights in different areas around the building.  With our acclaimed Academy Art Light, featuring its fully adjustable optics, new picture lights have been installed, and existing ones given a bespoke retrofit treatment.   Nothing requires more care in terms of light quality than the illumination of art, especially when so many paintings feature heraldic and military costumes which are rich in red. For this, the exceptionally high CRI of Ra97+ LED modules really proves its worth, as the newly-lit canvases glow in the saturated warmth of their new lights.

The latest project has been to upgrade the lighting to the twelve fine portraits of noble past members which adorn the walls of the Club’s sumptuous dining room.  Careful integration with the existing moulded frames and specialist bracketry and finishes has been rewarded by a finished installation of stunning quality and homogeneity.    “Many Members have taken special pains to congratulate us on these new lights, so we could not be more delighted” : Alex Bray, Secretary.

~ Private Country Estate, Northern Ireland, UK ~

In 2021 and 2022 we embarked upon a project to light an extensive art collection at a private country estate in Northern Ireland.  Close to one hundred picture lights were fabricated in our workshop to match the sizes of the canvases and 20 existing picture lights were retrofitted using our bespoke LED technology.  The paintings were located in various rooms across the property – a music room, library, morning room, dining room, hallway, staircase and gallery. Addressing the wiring in a sympathetic way to this historic building was crucial. To this end we used braided flex and colour matched to each room to ensure it was unobtrusive and camouflaged.  For more information on our braided wire click here.

~ Melford Hall, National Trust, UK ~

Melford Hall is a stately home in the village of Long Melford, Suffolk, England. It has been the home of the Hyde Parker family since 1786 and from 1960 it has been owned by the National Trust. The Hall has a long and varied history and the rooms in the house follow the changing styles from Jacobean through Georgian, Regency and Victorian.
The Regency Library houses an important collection of maritime paintings by Dominic Serres which reflect the four generations of Captains and Admirals in the family and commemorate the actions in the American Civil War. We were tasked with lighting the night scenes of the Serres Collection and the portrait of Vice Admiral Hyde Parker. So much detail on these paintings had been lost to the viewer due to poor lighting and a complete transformation occurred when our picture lights were installed. To read more and to view before and after images click here.

~ Private Country Estate - UK~

In this beautiful house we used our Gallery Picture Lights to light the bookcases in the library. The ‘picture light’ hardware was modified to be painted in a colour to match the off-white plasterwork and attached at high level on top of the Dado rail. The lighting needed to be soft and the hardware as unobtrusive as possible - with the lights colour matched to their surroundings, it is extremely difficult to spot them in the images! When installing the lights, they could be adjusted in situ (i.e. more LED modules could be added into the hardware, or indeed superfluous ones removed) optics selected to suit width and height of the various inset bookcases. The results are spectacular and the client was in his own words “thrilled” commenting that, “Charter Lighting were creative, expert and infinitely patient in their approach to our project. We would not hesitate to recommend them to others.”

~ Private Residence, UK ~

This wonderful hunting scene, a very substantial canvas indeed, has been beautifully lit using one continuous Academy Art Light.  Previously treated to three bright splodges from traditional overhanging picture lights, the improvement is truly transformative.  The wonderful artistic detailing in all four corners of the painting is clearly visible, with the even distribution of light having been achieved through the use of 15 variably-lensed and carefully site-focused LED modules.   Despite its size and coverage, the power consumption of this new picture light is less than 30Watts and, with no heat or UV, this historic and important painting is now completely safe from light-associated degradation. The client also availed himself of our specialist installation and focusing services – and we take pride and delight in his own pleasure at the outcome, summed up in his comment that all this is “…one reason to look forward to the winter, to show off your lights!”

~ The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, London, UK ~

In 2019 we embarked upon a lighting upgrade of all the picture lights throughout Apothecaries Hall.  The electrical circuits supplying the original picture lights were failing due to current overload, and conversion to a low wattage LED-powered solution was essential.   To stretch the budget as far as possible and ensure that the entire collection could be dealt in one go, we undertook a major exercise in repurposing and retrofitting most of their existing picture light hardware.  

Our team demounted the old lights and brought them back to our workshops.  Here, carrying out repair work and substituting new elements when necessary, the whole exercise for the 48 lights concerned, including their return, re-fit and focusing, was accomplished in less than a week! 

Our unique power rail technology combined with the multiple adjustable LED-modules and variable beam spreads really came into its own.   Even where the picture light was much too small for its canvas size (notably in the Parlour) we were able to ensure the whole painting was lit beautifully. 

“More excellent feedback from our Court (Board) members this week, they really noticed at dinner on Wednesday, when we dropped the chandelier lights to “one candle power” and the pictures were just popping. Fantastic!” 

In 2021 our services were called upon for a new project - to light specially commissioned painted glass panels in the Parlour. This challenge was somewhat different and we used special light-distributing LED panels to generate the back-lit effect required.

Read more about lighting for stained glass windows

~ Private Country Residence, UK ~

At Charter Lighting we also manufacture LED strip lighting and this was used for the coffers in a beautiful countryside private residence.  In this application we used dual tone to provide crisp white light for the day and mood light for the evening.  The channels were made bespoke, supplied pre-fabricated to fit the precise dimensions of the coffers.  The intricacies of the ceiling are illuminated perfectly and the room is transformed!  Click here to view more images and the installation process. 

~ Sutton Hoo, National Trust, UK ~

Our Fineline Picture lights have just been installed at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo.  Everything was a bit of a last-minute rush, between the Trust beginning to open up operations following the long Lockdown and the House re-opening to the public on 17th May – but we were able to work to their deadline.

The new lights were used to illuminate the portraits of Edith Pretty and her son, Robert.  Sutton Hoo is most famous for the archaeological digs which were instigated by Edith Pretty when the discovery of a buried treasure ship was made there on the brink of the outbreak of World War II.  Although she was granted ownership of the treasure-trove, she generously donated all the finds to the British Museum where they may be seen to this day.  This remarkable place and its history was encapsulated in the 2021 film, The Dig - which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo.  

Like so many of these fine historic properties, the main rooms are wood-panelled and running power to the picture’s location was not possible.  Power therefore had to be drawn remotely from sockets at floor level, and ensuring the wiring was discreet and in keeping with the décor was particularly important.  We supplied various samples of braided flex for the curators at Sutton Hoo to colour match the best one to the wood.  We also supplied a modest inline switch to blend in with the surroundings, providing a discreet but readily-accessible on/off mechanism for the picture light – no need for staff to scramble around under furniture to operate the lights via the switched socket!

Both FineLine picture lights were 24” head size and specially-lensed to suit the portrait orientation of each painting.  The ‘before and after’ images illustrate just how uniformly they light up the two paintings, and how well-balanced they now are. 

~ Country House in Kent ~

A mixture of LED picture lights and accent spot lights were used to light the beautiful art work in this country house in Kent. Throughout the magnificent hallway and main staircase discreet accent spot lights were used to great effect, showing off the paintings as well as the painted mural on the wall and objet d’art. In the reception room picture lights were colour matched to the wall providing a seamless finish.

~ Shaw’s Corner - National Trust ~

Shaw's Corner was the home of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and is now a National Trust property, open to the public as a writer's house museum. We completed an upgrade and enhancement of the exterior flood lighting at the property which was needed to enable the safe movement of staff and visitors around the property after dark. The lighting had to be sympathetic to this heritage property in style and function. We supplied LED Floodlights with specialised modifications, designed specifically to blend with the surrounding environment, painting the metal work a bespoke green colour to match the window frames on the house.
Shaw’s Corner is a bat conservation site and vitally important was the non-disturbance for bat roosts. To minimise the upward light trajectory and prevent glare, a specially extended upper shroud was added to the frame of the light along with a honeycomb mesh across the lens. The specifications of the floodlights were also designed so that there was sufficient light intensity and distribution to integrate with and enable good imagery from the security cameras. An additional feature was RF activation by a hand-held remote control to trigger the lighting on the front-of-house and in the car park so that the path between them could be illuminated as required for the comfort of the staff and visitors.

~ Snowshill Manor - National Trust ~

Snowshill Manor, in Gloucestershire, was the eccentric home of the architect, artist and collector Charles Paget Wade. It was a home where he could combine all his creative and artistic skills, displaying his collection of hand crafted objects, from snuff-boxes to suits of armour, masks to musical instruments. The manor is a treasure trove of quirky and curious objects. We were invited to light one such ARTEFACT - the Japanese samurai amour. This is a beautifully decorated armour with a dragon, crickets and dragonflies and is part of a collection of 39 suits of samurai armour and numerous weapons.

The armour was chosen by the National Trust as part of its celebration of its 125th Anniversary and features in a book, 125 Treasures from the Collections of the National Trust. Lighting this important historical artefact was required in order to enhance the visitor experience at Snowshill Manor and properly show off the details of this exhibit.

We provided bespoke lighting from our Accent range, using our magnetic track and variably lensed spotlights which delivered both wash and accent lighting. Miniature spotlights were simply attached to our bespoke, magnet track, which was mounted onto the back of the exhibit’s Information Panel - so completely invisible to the viewer! The information panel was also lit using one of our infamous Diddy Picture Lights.

~ EMI, London, UK ~

In 1898, Francis Barraud’s painting of his brother’s Jack Russell listening to a Berliner disc gramophone was purchased by The Gramophone Company of London. Almost 120 years later this iconic image is recognised worldwide as the identity of His Master’s Voice and the original sits proudly in the Headquarters of Warner brothers in London. In order to show the work effectively, Charter Lighting were commissioned to produce a black picture light throwing light evenly across this celebrated masterpiece. The company are delighted. Nipper looks fantastic attracting as much attention, if not more than at any time in his long career.