Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
seventeeth-century physical fabric of the building as far as possible and using
traditional materials and techniques that is in harmony with the original con-
struction. As part of this project we will be recording the existing physical
remains and researching the original client, builders, materials, craft practices
and other valuable sources of information. In the long term, when Jigginstown
is conserved and structurally safe, we will be facilitating public access and inter-
pretation. In the process we hope to learn and replicate the skills and materi-
als used by the craftsmen who originally built the building and to publish the
research and the remedial works carried out at Jigginstown.
The initial phase involved two seasons of archaeological excavations at the
site as well as the immense task of surveying and recording of the building
itself. The ruins of the building are extensive and, despite the fact they have
been ruined for over three hundred and fifty years, in remarkably good con-
dition. The brickwork, including the cut and rubbed dressings, had all been
laid in hard lime mortar and then pointed with a separate and finer lime mor-
tar that was 'ruled' to finish. An analysis of the mortars at Jigginstown carried
out by Dr. Sara Pavia at Trinity College, Dublin, showed that the core bedding
mortar for the three bricks-thick walls was a hot-mixed eminently hydraulic
mix with 1:2 proportions of binder:aggregate. The pointing mortar was
a feebly hydraulic mix containing fine sharp sand in a mix with 1:2 propor-
tions of binder:aggregate. The strength of the bedding and pointing mortars
are the principal reason that the building has survived so well. Indeed it has
proved difficult to salvage any original bricks for re-use as the mortar is harder
than the bricks. Any attempt to salvage bricks for re-use by cleaning off the
mortar results in a pile of brick dust and fragments of near perfect mortar
remains.
It became apparent that we would need specialist advice before tackling any
brick repair work at Jigginstown. In March 2003, I travelled to England to the
Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in Sussex to take part in a training
course on the conservation and repair of historic brickwork by Gerard Lynch,
Historic Brickwork Consultant, Master bricklayer and Author. I spoke to him
about Jigginstown House and invited him over to Ireland to consult with us on
the nature of the brickwork, the causes of its failure, how best to consolidate
the ruin.
His first trip over was in September 2004 and we spent two days together
on site examining the brickwork, and seeing it through his expert eyes. He
was very quickly able to determine that all the buff-coloured bricks, origi-
nally selected for the dressings, had all been 'cut and rubbed' to shape. The
tooling and abrading marks were readily apparent once shown to us. He also
noted that these bricks were remarkably like Flemish bricks that he had seen
and used during his time studying in Flanders. Dr Jane Fenlon, Architectural
