New homes at Fernwood, Middlebeck and Balderton
Newark-on-Trent now forms one built-up area with Balderton to the south-east, and new housing has spread around it. Fernwood is a new estate, the Middlebeck development sits on the town's southern edge, where a new school opened in 2021, and homes have been built on the former Balderton Hospital site.
In a new build, panelling is often about giving a room a focal point. A full-height shaker wall behind the bed, board and batten along a dining wall, or half-height panelling up the stairs all add depth to plain rooms. The walls are usually plasterboard, so the panels are bonded to the board and pinned into the framing where there is any. Pins on their own have little to hold in hollow board, so the adhesive does most of the work. We check walls for bows and proud joints and fill any hairline settlement cracks first.
Late-Victorian and Edwardian houses
Newark has plenty of older housing too. A 2022 council review proposed adding the late-Victorian and Edwardian planned housing around the Magnus School, on Hatton Gardens, Winchilsea Avenue and Milner Street, to the conservation area, along with 19th-century houses on Crown Street and the late-Victorian and early 20th-century houses on Lime Grove.
Rooms of this age suit picture-frame moulding and panelled dados. Older plaster is checked for hollow or cracked areas and repaired or skimmed before anything is fixed, so the moulding runs straight from one end of the wall to the other. If the room still has its original skirting or a picture rail, the panelling is planned around them so old and new details line up.
Respecting historic detail
Newark's conservation area was the second ever designated in England, and it is on the national Heritage at Risk Register, partly because of lost architectural detail. If your home is listed, panelling fixed to original walls may need listed building consent, so check with Newark and Sherwood District Council before planning work. In an unlisted period house, panelling is one way to bring some detail back inside, as long as it is scaled to the room.
Making the trip to Newark
At around 15 miles from Mapperley, Newark-on-Trent is towards the outer side of our area but well inside the 30 miles we cover. The finished panelling is filled, sanded and caulked so it is ready to prime and paint. Call 07877 353120 or use the enquiry form with photos of your wall, and note any sockets or radiators on it so we can talk through the layout. We work seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
