Background

Now owned by The National Trust, Lindisfarne Castle is a Sixteenth Century Castle located on Holy Island. It was built in 1550 using stones taken from the dilapidated Lindisfarne Priory to provide a lookout and fort to protect against invading Scots.  Purchased by Edward Hudson in 1901, he appointed Sir Edward Lutyens to oversee the conversion, refurbishment and extension of the castle into a family home.

The Project

Datim were appointed to undertake a full internal and external refurbishment of the iconic Castle.  Due to the exposed position of the Castle, it was suffering from severe water ingress through its walls, roof and windows and required sensitive conservation.  The work was critical to the long-term sustainability of the Castle as a historic building and visitor attraction. In addition, Datim looked to find long-term solutions to remedy or manage long-term problems – not least the water ingress.

Scope of Works

Scaffolding and a temporary roof were erected at the Castle in order to reach all areas where work was to be carried out. This took five months to install and could be seen and marvelled at for miles around.

The sympathetic repair works, necessary to restore the building to its former state, included:  the complete replacement of the lead roof coverings and repairs to the roof structures;  all 108 original, metal-framed windows were either repaired or replaced; feature stone walls were rebuilt; there was the careful replacement of all three tracery windows; the cementitious material from the walls was removed and over 300 square metres of the external walls were covered with a ‘sneck harl’ and limewash as an extra layer of protection against the elements; lime plaster and oak laths were removed and replaced to help with evaporation of the moisture trapped in the structure; on the roof the drainage system was modified to take water away from the building without effecting any of the walls; there was a full rewire to improve safety and there was a painstaking uncovering of 17th century wall paintings in the kitchen.