Preserving our Walled Garden Walls
Bricklaying students from Telford College help to
restore our Walled Garden Walls
Over the last few weeks, we have welcomed students from Telford College to help repair and re-point the grade two listed perimeter wall of our four acre Walled Garden, which was originally designed by famous landscape architect Capability Brown in the 18th century.
The walls that surround our Walled Garden are not constructed with the Portland cement you would find in modern properties, but with lime mortar, which enables the walls to move slightly.
The students are learning key heritage skills of how to use the heritage methods of working lime mortar from conservation stonemason Luke Unsworth, whose company carries out a range of restoration and maintenance projects within the Weston Park estate. The students are assisting us by raking out the old mortar, re-pointing areas where water has eroded over time, and bringing the walls back to a good condition.
Luke Unsworth, Head conservator and stonemason, says ”The students are helping us to preserve a piece of history, and have all done incredibly well so far. The ultimate goal, working alongside the students, is for us to get the whole of the Walled Garden wall re-pointed.”
“My team are guiding the students as best we can on how to use traditional materials. We are working with a lime mortar, mixed with sand and lime – natural materials, to a conservation standard.”
Gareth Williams, Curator and Head of Learning to the Weston Park Foundation says: ‘This project with the Telford College students is a blending of the conservation and education objectives of the Weston Park Foundation. The work of the charitable Foundation ensures that Weston Park will remain for future generations to come and these students are playing a huge role in the long term restoration of the estate, as well as learning core heritage skills which are essential for the long-term futures of built heritage assets. We’ve been delighted that so many of the students have been keen to learn more about the industry need for heritage skills which are currently, in many instance, in the decline in the UK.’
We are delighted to be working in partnership with Telford College on this restoration project and are currently exploring opportunies for the development of further heritage skills which will ensure that a new generation of crafts people are trained and, in so doing, which will to help preserve Weston Park and other heritage sites in the future.
Jackie Bradnick, lead work placement co-ordinator at Telford College, said: “This partnership is the result of many months of meetings and discussions with the team at Weston Park. It is fantastic to see it up and running, and working so well. Most of our bricklaying curriculum focuses on new-build construction, so this is an incredibly valuable opportunity to expose our students to a very different side of the job – the art of traditional heritage brickwork.”
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in this restoration project and for their contribution to the work of the Weston Park Foundation.
