Mingary Castle: Coping Stones on the Battlements

Monday, 3 November 2014

Coping Stones on the Battlements

A couple of weeks ago pallets of York stone slabs arrived on site to be cut for the coping stones on top of the battlement walls. They came in several standard sizes, which were then....

....cut and shaped by stonemason Damien Summerscales. To do this, he had to climb up to the battlements and make a template for each piece, since very few would conform to a standard size.

Once ready, each slab then had to be lifted up the scaffolding, by hand using a pulley, and then carried round to its position....

....where Damien had prepared a bed of mortar for it.

The slab was then lifted carefully into place.

This picture shows what may be one of the longest runs of slabs completed so far, and the way that every embrasure - that's the lower part of the crenellations - has its own, carefully shaped stone....

....however small it might be.

All this has been achieved despite the recent almost continuous rain. The last stages are to point under each slab, as has been done in this picture, and finally to point between them - but this hasn't been possible yet because of the weather.

2 comments:

Anonymous8 June 2015 at 17:22
Hello, just wondering if coping stones were originally present and have been lost, or if they are a modern intervention to improve appearance and protect against the elements?
ReplyDelete
Replies
Jon9 June 2015 at 16:07
Francis Shaw, the architect to the Mingary Project, replies, "There were originally 16th century coping stones that were robbed. Tom Addyman, our archaeologist, thinks they were continuous, Historic Scotland is not sure. Either way, yes, there were. We have put a simplified version on. The earlier version would have been tapered off like a tooth and would have been similar to those at Kisimul. There is one crenelation on the west side that is still like this."
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

The Mingary Castle Preservation and Restoration Trust

"The most intact thirteenth century castle in Scotland" is how archaeologist Tom Addyman describes Mingary Castle. Seat of Clan MacIain, commanding the sea route through the Sound of Mull, Mingary dates back to the thirteenth century and may be much older - there is some evidence, not least from the name, that the Vikings fortified the site. However, since it was last inhabited in the mid-nineteenth century, the castle has been deteriorating. A recent survey showed that, unless urgent restoration work was carried out, the castle was in danger of collapse.

The Mingary Castle Preservation and Restoration Trust, which is Scottish registered charity SC043705, was set up in 2013 to address this problem. Work started on the site in April 2013, and it is hoped to have the building fully restored to its mediaeval grandeur by the end of 2014.

Mingary Castle stands on Ardnamurchan Estate land, near the village of Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Donald Houston, who owns the Estate and is responsible for the upcoming work on the castle, is determined that the many written records that are being prepared as part of the work should be fully available to the public on-line. This will be done through the main Mingary Castle website, of which this blog will be a part.

Businesses Involved in the Project