Updates from site
With rejuvenation works now well underway, here we share glimpses into the activity onsite at Saddell Castle.
Meet the team
Landmark’s regional surveyor for Scotland and the Borders, Zac Manning, is managing the complex project and steering an expert team.
Nick Blair and David Millar of Glasgow-based ZM Architecture are working together with Alan Harper and David Piechniczek of Morham + Brotchie Partnership quantity surveyors, Dominic Echlin of David Narro Associates structural engineers, Danny Ross of Harley Haddow M&E consultants, Dr Clare Ellis of Argyll Archaeology, Charlotte Meyer-Wilson of ecologists David Dodds Associates, Craig Frew of Frew Conservation and others. Chris Pritchard of principal contractors William Waugh & Sons (Builders) Ltd is supervising site.
The team will also be working with several subcontractors across the project, including J.Plant Hire, Limerich, Clyde Scaffolding and Calum McKinven.
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J Plant Hire
Ben Millar and team, Max, Ali and David who will undertake the groundworks and excavation for the drainage works and to the cellar basement and new plant store.
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Limerich & Clyde
Richard Fraser and his band of masons, Paul, Dominic, Liam and Cameron during their careful removal of the cementitious harling and exposing the masonry below.
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Calum McKinven Contractor
Calum and his team of roofers, Paul and Ian and joiners Dyland and Dave for carefully stripping the existing Scot’s slates and dressing for reinstatement.
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Clyde Scaffolding
Willie Creggan and his lead scaffolder Raymond Edgar and team, Liam, Stephen and Billy, in the impressive scaffolding matrix covering the entire castle structure, including chimneys and providing a covered area for Limerich masonry works.
Progress so far
September 2024
Conservation of heraldic shields
On the ceiling of the dining room at Saddell Castle were 23 polychrome wood shields, containing heraldic jokes and puns. The shields were originally added in the 19th century by the castle’s then owner Colonel Macleod – who clearly had great fun restoring the building’s ancient rooms. Following a period of safekeeping at Campbelltown Museum, the shields were reinstated when Landmark took over the castle’s care in the 1970s. These shields have now been taken down and meticulously conserved by Graciela Ainsworth, sculpture conservation specialists based just outside Edinburgh.
After photographing for documentation, each shield was sensitively dry cleaned to the front and back with a soft, clean brush and vacuum cleaner with a rubber nozzle to remove loose dust. This was followed by cleaning with a smoke sponge to remove more ingrained dust and dirt. Panels with lifting or flaking paint were consolidated, and each shield was further cleaned with de-ionised water on small cotton wool swabs, using a small amount of tri-ammonium citrate where needed. Cracks were repaired, aged adhesive removed and woodworm holes treated.
The conserved shields with their newly brightened colours are now ready and waiting to be carefully reattached to the ceiling in the castle.
L: The shields before works began. R: One of the shields following conservation
July 2024
Time for lime
Exterior works at Saddell Castle have been continuing apace. Stonemasons and plasterers from Limerich have been working on the final big push to get the castle walls fully prepared by removing all cement finishes and exposing the stone and lime fabric. The next stage is steam cleaning in preparation for the deep void packing, pinning, lime pointing, then finally lime harling. Liam (pictured) from Limerich has really enjoyed constructing the stone parapet wall heads. He also led the construction of brick construction detail on the chimneys.
Wallheads have been consolidated and new sandstone copes installed, 'merlons' (solid upright section of the battlement) and 'cheeks' (sides of the walls) are now ready for the crenellations next week. The south gable has been harled with feather detail integrating crow steps, now ready for limewashing. Lead spouts are now collecting water from the inside parapet and yellow 'trunks' have been fitted to displace rainwater away from the walls in an effort to dry them out before poultice lime is added.
July also saw SPAB Scotland bring a group of limeworking students along to Saddell Castle to learn traditional limeworking techniques and carry out real repairs on a live site under the tutelage of Richard Fraser and the team at Limerich. Attendees learned about hot mixing of lime mortar and harling, and applying the harling. They finished off with some lime washing - and, as these pictures show, a big smile!
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Liam from Limerich led the construction of brick detail on the chimneys
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Wallheads consolidated and new sandstone copes being installed. In the foreground, the south gable is harled with feather detail integrating the crow steps ready for limewashing
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Limerich's Richard Fraser pressing back the harl on the new chimney
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All smiles at SPAB Scotland's limeworking course
May 2024
Harling stripped and Liesegang discovery
This month saw most of the cementitious harling stripped away from the elevations, allowing us to fully understand the condition of the underlying stonework. And it’s good news, as Landmark's Regional Surveyor, Zac Manning, explains:
‘The harling has now been largely stripped from the elevations, revealing the underlying stone substrate. We had an interesting day discussing the masonry condition and mortar specification with Nick Blair of ZM Architecture, Craig Frew of Frew Conservation, and Richard Fraser of Limerich.
'Fortunately the masonry and mortar appears to be in relatively good condition, thanks to the harling protection. The large corbel stones remain sharp, and the majority of the stonework is sound – we now need to remove the harling remnants and investigate the mortar joints in more detail, especially the architectural elements such as the quoins.'
Another stonework surprise came this month in the form of the discovery of some natural patterning in the lime mortar. These interesting effects seem to be Liesengang rings, and are the work of nature, rather than any creative stonemasonry.
Zac says: ‘We have discovered some Liesegang patterns at Saddell Castle. Liesegang is a curious natural phenomenon also known as ‘periodic precipitation’, where a self-organised chemical pattern creates a layered structure. In this case, in hydraulic lime mortars beneath the defective cementitious mortar.’
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Nick Blair of ZM Architecture, Craig Frew of Frew Conservation and Richard Fraser of Limerich discuss the masonry condition and mortar specification
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Richard Fraser, Director of Limerich, identifies Liesegang patterns at Saddell Castle
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Liesegang rings in the lime mortar
March 2024
The first weeks have seen a hive of activity unfold across the Castle. Landmark's Regional Surveyor, Zac Manning reflects on what’s been achieved so far.
Clyde Scaffolding are racing on with the scaffolding – we are now at parapet level and almost at the chimneys, while they still need to tie into the masonry, secure the scaffolding boards and install the debris netting. Meanwhile at ground level, we had the Limerich Team removing the defective harl and revealing the underlying stonework.
We had ecologist Charlotte from David Dodds installing bat boxes, delivering a toolbox talk on bat protection and supervising the removal of slates. Calum McKinven Contractors are tasked with stripping the roof slates, and Nick Blair of ZM Architecture was on site to inspect the proposed new/salvaged slate replacement and meet with Chris Pritchard of William Waugh.
Roddie from Argyll Archaeology was also on site supervising the excavation works to the basement and external plant room under a Watching Brief – he uncovered a range of glass bottles and pottery, including delftware – this treasure trove will be cleaned up and presented in the archaeological evaluation report. Ben Millar and team from J Plant Hire made short work of the removal of the concrete basement – now we need to reduce levels slightly, so Roddie will shortly return to supervise this.
We also had delivery of the site welfare units comprising storage and office (which sit of top of one another), which proved a wee bit challenging in a small site – especially when the office arrived before the storage unit despite Chris’ specific instructions!
