Heritage Conservation Restoration Ltd had the privilege of carrying out extensive external fabric repairs of the workshops at Lancaster Castle.
This restoration project involved the construction of a new timber roof deck made from Baltic Pine boards which were built on site by our team of joiners in preparation for a new lead bay roof to be installed.
Whilst the lead work was in progress on the roof, our team of stonemasons and lime pointers carried out the external fabric repairs. Masonry work included the cutting out and replacement of defective stone, along with Thermatech cleaning of all of the facades of the workshops. Once the Thermatech cleaning had been carried out on the castle walls, patch pointing was required using hydraulic lime mortar.
The original prison window bars were causing severe to the stonework due to the rusting of the iron. To resolve this, Heritage carefully removed the bars from the stone to add stainless steel tips to prevent any further damage once they were refitted back in to the repaired stonework. As the bars were being restored, the sash windows were re-glazed using Histoglass to extend their longevity.
Heritage is really proud to have helped create a moment of history at Lancaster Castle. We carried out extensive and very specialist repairs to restore the clock and bell, allowing the bell to ring for the first time in over 50 years.
The bell dates back to 1823 and following inspection with the architect,it was found to be fractured, preventing it from ringing. To repair this, we disassembled the bell structure and had it restored at a specialist bell foundry. Whilst the bell was being restored, our joiners constructed a new oak frame to replace the original which had rotted over time.
There are four momentous cast iron roof lights at Lancaster Castle, all of which were heavily eroded having been in place for so long without any protective treatments. Heritage carefully dismantled the lights and had them fully restored to their original condition by one of our specialist metal workers.
The clients and architect were delighted with our work and management of the project and subsequently Heritage were asked to remain on site to carry out internal refurbishment to the workshops, with a view to converting the vacant space in to offices.
Additional works were also carried out externally, including extra elevation of the castle facade within the vicinity of the workshops and repairs to the entrance railings/stonework to the prison yard. These works included Thermatech cleaning, stonemasonry repairs, decoration works and restoration to the windows.
