Category: Projects

Rebuilding the top wall and apex ready to repair oak roof beams and purlins and new softwood beams

lancrigg.co.uk

The Wi and the Village Association have employed me to restore some of their benches.

By knocking down the old sandstone bus shelter in Christleton I was left with 13 landcover loads of cut stone. I used some for the village map and flower bed then the parish council asked me to build some more planters around the village. I also stripped and restored four benches.

These slabs from a Cumbrian building were used in a cottage in Grasmere as a patio. It took three of us to lift some of the slabs. We put them in place then lifted each one separately to make a slightly sloped patio.

In 2016 I put in a wildflower meadow at the Bluecoat Junior School in Chester. A group of us revitalised the Chester Urban Wildlife Group and then put in another wildflower meadow behind Alexanders Live in Chester, sending out the following press release:

Don’t Mow – Let It Grow!

Saturday 1st July is National Meadows Day and Chester Urban Wildlife Group have much to celebrate this year with the creation of a new wildflower meadow in Chester City Centre.

Working in partnership with Alexanders Live café-bar in Rufus Court, the Chester Urban Wildlife Group have turned a neglected area of grassland at the back of the bar into a dazzling display of cornflowers, corncockle and corn marigold. Species-rich meadows were once found across much of lowland England, but since the 1940’s intensive agriculture has destroyed about 97% of this precious habitat. The remaining 8,000 hectares depend on sympathetic management such as low-intensity grazing by livestock or mowing for hay.

The Chester Urban Wildlife Group is keen to work with landowners in Chester City Centre to transform unused green spaces into colourful, vibrant meadows that help conserve wildlife and promote sustainable land management practices.

A raised wildflower bed has also been installed on the site, thanks to the support of the composite decking firm Ecodek in Wrexham. The raised bed contains a variety of native grasses and wildflowers such as Viper’s bugloss which will encourage pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies.

We can all help biodiversity in our towns and cities, either by leaving areas of unmown grass for mammals and birds, or planting native wildflowers in pots or hanging baskets.

After helping to save the facade, I researched the station, wrote a book and put up the plaque which I wrote (paid for by the builder).

I repair drystone walls that have fallen around Ambleside and the Lakes Parish by myself or with volunteers.

 

Since I found that there was once a clappergate on a path in Wrexham, built in Victorian times to let ladies in long dresses use the path, I’ve always wanted to build one. However on that path Wrexham County put in a new gate. So when Mehr Fardoonji of Oakcroft Gardens asked me to build one into her woods at Cross O’ the Hill in memory of a friend with whom she used to visit one at the RHS gardens, I designed and built one with the help of a friend. At first the gate didn’t clap due to the wet treated wood but when it dried the sawn post clapped as it closed

Over a thousand stiles, hundreds of gates, bridges, pipes, slopes, signposts, waymarker posts put in for Wrexham County, community councils and Groundwork Trust.

  

Thirty years after building a drystone wall the owner wanted almost matching steps so I sunk stone into concrete.

In 2015 I was asked by the Ramblers to go with two volunteers to the Cambrian Way where a drystone wall needed rebuilding to form a safe platform where a memorial bench for Tony Drake OBE (who designed the Cambrian Way) was to be put. We stayed at the lovely small independent hostel for three nights and rebuilt the wall, as well as exploring the local paths.

Thirty years ago two garden owners in Coedpoeth had me build walls for them. The first 16 foot high 40 foot long wall took 100 hours and the money donated to ‘Live Aid.’

 The village map for Christleton was commissioned by Derek Morgan in memory of his wife Myra. I drew it all in black and white and then found he wanted it in colour, so, using Derwent pencils, I coloured the line drawings giving a sharp result.