Tuesday 12 February 2013

Propped!

Many thanks to my builder and "man with tele-handler" for securing the remaining parts of the (largely collapsed) oriel window. This has recently been achieved using an ingenious cantilevered wooden structure which fits nicely into existing holes in the masonry, thus acting as convenient sockets. It is good to see work progressing externally even in the current snowy and chilly conditions.


newly propped oriel window

newly propped oriel window (close up)

Tuesday 5 February 2013

3D Jigsaw Part Deux

This is further to my previous blog entry .....

After another day-and-a-bit of effort, the stone blocks from Balintore Castle's oriel window have finally all been moved to palettes for storage and future reconstruction. It is strange to see the bottom of the oriel window unencumbered by the rubble of the collapse, and at last there is a view of the ludicrously small pillar that once supported it! The oriel was always a somewhat odd feature, clamped barnacle-like to the east elevation, as if an afterthought.

The pictures were take after the last melt of snow, and before the current dump. The melting has turned the storage site for the blocks into a quagmire but assuredly this will dry out in the Spring, and the grass will grow again. 


oriel window now free of collapsed stone blocks


block storage facility and glacial melt mud !