New partnership comes together to maintain City Walls

A new partnership between Cheshire West and Chester Council and Chester Cathedral will see the Cathedral’s heritage skills team work on both the Cathedral and Chester’s historic City Walls.

The mutually beneficial contract will see the Cathedral team undertaking conservation and stonemasonry works to support the Council in the care of the City Walls.

The Cathedral’s conservation team understand local conditions and materials and have spent a long time refining their understanding of how to use hot lime mortar, a skill that is currently hard to find, and will be used with approval from Historic England.  This technique will be used both on the Cathedral and City Walls.

One of the biggest maintenance issues on the walls was the use of hard cement mortar in the immediate post war years.

This approach does not allow moisture to evaporate from the joints. Instead, it forces water to evaporate through masonry blocks which are already very soft (as is the nature of the local sandstone), causing them to erode.

The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Highways, Councillor Karen Shore said:

“This collaboration will see one team building up an in-depth knowledge of the city wall’s unique construction, its maintenance issues and the factors that cause decline.

“Introducing hot-lime work to the city walls will help to maintain the use of traditional techniques and materials that are more appropriate for the soft, local red sandstone used in the walls. 

“It will also mean that expertise is on-hand nearby in case of urgent works for example, caused by storm damage or vandalism.”

The Cathedral’s Works Department has been developed with the support of the Hamish Ogston Foundation and Cathedral Workship Fellowship.

Cathedral Clerk of Works, Ted Comer said:

“This partnership will help to train the next generation in heritage skills and stonemasonry techniques. Some work on the city walls involves very basic stonemasonry, and so represents an ideal training opportunity for younger members of the team.  The partnership will help us to create a team who will be able to share ideas, techniques, and skills, and help us to conserve Chester’s heritage, along with other potential projects in the county."

The Council’s highways contractor, Colas, will work with the Cathedral’s team on this collaboration.  The arrangement will be for one year, with a view to extending it if it is successful.

Pictured - An example of hard cement mortar standing proud between eroded sandstone.