A Weatherspoons pub surviving from Elizabethan times has yielded a set of remarkable wall paintings from around 1580—when the establishment was bought by Queen Elizabeth I’s Chief Adviser William Cecil, also known as the Earl of Salisbury. The series of six panels, showing significant wear, portray lavishly dressed figures donning the most fashionable couture of that era. One painting portrays a woman previously thought to be Queen Elizabeth herself—the likeness and garb bearing a striking similarity—but who was later determined not to be the monarch. After Weatherspoons in 2014 took over The Star pub in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the establishment underwent refurbishing. The chain hired conservator Mark Perry of The Perry Lithgow Partnership to inspect and conserve the panel paintings. Although the works required significant removal of layers of dust, insect debris, and cobwebs, they were surprisingly well preserved. Perry called the paintings “an incredibly rare find” because of their unusual subject matter …