The time has come to brace the western half of the property against the effect of the climate on the massive, but weakly bonded, walls. According to the structural engineer who visited recently, most of the degradation has happened during the last 5 years. (the village was/is a favourite location for his shooting expeditions).
The building has been filled with a network of scaffold tubes, wooden beams and screw feet to at least stabilise the walls against each other. Would all proper scaffolders look the other way! All the redundant floor and ceiling members have been removed and soon the arduous task of digging out the approx 10 tons of soil which fill the lower storey will begin. The masonry above all the openings will have to be rebuilt as the lintels have all succumbed to various forms of rot.
The next phase of bracing should be complete by mid February and will focus on the Eastern half of the building - at the moment a series of oversize ‘French Braces’ is envisaged. (all non theatrical types can wait for the pictures).
