Work Progresses

The scaffolding in the castle courtyard is now complete, with the whole area a maze of walkways enabling every centimetre of the walls to be easily accessed.  At present some of John-Paul Ashley's men are working on the loose mortar, while others are continuing with the pointing in the north range.

This is the only section of scaffolding which suffered during the recent storm and, as can be seen, it's back in place.  Wind speeds measured locally suggested that some gusts reached 90mph last Thursday, with the strongest from the northwest, a direction from which the castle is reasonably protected.  This also explains why the only scaffolding to move was at the top of the northwest corner.

Following the storm we've had days of rain and, with temperatures staying firmly above 10C, the humidity has been high.  This hasn't helped the mortar being used in the pointing in the interior of the north range to go off.  Each wall is more or less damp.  This section is on the interior of the north curtain wall, and it's particularly damp, with droplets condensing on the flat surfaces of the stones.  The large stone visible here is running with damp, and the surrounding mortar is taking up to a fortnight to go off.

The recent high temperatures may have caused this gorse growing near the castle to spring into unseasonal flower.  Work will stop over Christmas and won't start again until 6th January of the New Year, when the men will begin pointing the walls outside the north range.  That's some nice, cold work for them to look forward to.