Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Re-building all of our cut-moulded work into the various elements involved
careful setting out. For the work on the arches the cut-moulded voussoirs had
to be laid back to the positions marked out on the centre. For the jambs of
the openings it was vital to re-establish the first few courses of bricks to line,
level and gauge and then strain lines up to the springing position to ensure
the work was built plumb. The work to the newel and vault brickwork required
a differing treatment. For the newel it was a matter of carefully laying the
cut-moulded bricks into the prepared pockets on full beds of mortar but no
cross-joint against the other decayed bricks needing to be removed. These
were allowed to set so that these adjacent decayed bricks could then be care-
fully removed and their new replacements laid. On the vaulted brickwork the
manner of replacing bricks varied with whether it was an individual or several
bricks. With individual bricks it was simply a matter of placing the brick into a
prepared pocket, with plenty of mortar to the rear and sides, and then wedg-
ing it in the bed and cross-joints with slate tapped back to allow for full and
flush pointing. Where a number of bricks required laying these were laid with
full flush joints over the lath formwork. For the chimney it was a simple matter
of laying the bricks to bond so that they were set level line, and plumb, and lay-
ing the corbelled course accurately for the terminal capping.
Figure 29
Finished remedial
work at Kirby Muxloe
Castle showing the
axing marks on the
cut-moulded newel
bricks and ploughshare
vaulting to match the
original.
All the brickwork was re-built using a specified NHL 3.5 moderately hydraulic
lime binder from Castle Cement, mixed with a blend of two units of soft build-
ing sand and one of grit sand. There was no fixed ratio as we were very much
governed by the need to aesthetically match the varying historical mortars
