Remedial repair works and erection of lightning conductor.

Re consolidation of roof cap, window opens, doorway, stitching of fissures and re-pointing throughout.

Graffiti cleaning renaissance funerary monuments
at St Mary’s Church Graveyard, Kilkenny.

The vandalism of renowned sixteenth-seventeenth century burial monuments at St. Mary’s parish church in the heart of Kilkenny city during the years either side of 2000 caused outrage and led one authority to brand their treatment as ‘a national disgrace’ (Curl 2013, 159). In 2014 the first phase of a project to conserve and restore these tombs, and others on the site, was undertaken as part of a wider repurposing of the medieval church building as a civic museum and exhibition space.

Graffiti removal was undertaken following extensive trials and research. A combination of non abrasive targeted steam cleaning and quick acting specialist Alkaline Gel Graffiti cleaning solutions (comprising dichloromethane, benzyl alcohol and ethanol solution) were used which allows the retention as much of the natural patina as possible. The approach was very slow and gentle with the expectation only to attempt to remove graffiti that was visually obtrusive to the monuments and where any graffiti material was offering huge resistance, it felt best to leave for fear of overtreatment. The key to retaining as much of the natural patina as possible.

The stone was firstly washed down and dampened and the cleaning product was painted directly onto the graffiti matter and left to act for approx. 15-45mins. It was then scraped off and the stone washed down with copious amounts of water and a light solution of degreaser and neutraliser where necessary to ensure removal of all product. Where necessary the cleaning product was then reapplied and removed in the same manner two more times. There was a definite success in that the graffiti matter had substantially faded and the cleaning product had little impact on the natural patination of the stone surrounding the graffiti. Very stubborn strongly-pigmented graffiti material (likely spray paint) which had penetrated deeply into the limestone proved more difficult to remove and whilst it faded somewhat with treatment its complete removal may have caused damage to the stone surface and it remains visible.

An Honest Repair.

Ivor McElveen Associates, Historic Building Consultants and Conservation Engineering Services, recently used the Tiling Repair Technique during a recent phase of conservation and stabilisation works on the 15th century tower house. The tower house had experienced loses of cut stone comprising the window frames at some of the openings as well as further unravelling of adjoining rubble masonry. This resulted in the destabilisation of the surrounding masonry with risk of structural failure and further collapse. Due to a lack of information as to what precisely constituted the providence and design of the original cut stone and because of budgetary constraints, replacing the missing cut stone by replication was not practically. Further, any such work would have resulted in conjecture. Rubble masonry build-up of the void caused by the missing vertical cut stone, missing lintels and cills would have been archaeologically and architecturally incorrect. It would also have been structurally unsound. What was required was an insertion that would provide the same or similar structural support as the missing cut stone and at the same time look reasonably compatible, albeit an obvious repair.

After careful consideration of the conservation philosophy to be adopted taking cognisance of the constraints, the tiling technique as advocated by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was chosen as the most suitable repair method. The photographs below illustrate the use of local thin flagstone as a substitute for tiling which provides structural columns in lieu of the original cut stone creating the window frame, and giving the desired structural strength. The lintel support was created by cantilever detail. The insertion created is totally reversibility and can be replaced with original material when funds and information are available. The advantages of this technique is that the necessary structural support is provided, the new materials which are easily identifiable are sympathetic to the existing structure, and records of their placement and composition have been retained so that future repair materials can be repeated or modified. It is also a cost effective, workable and reversible honest repair.

The Tiling Repair Technique has been widely used in the UK at Guilford and Wolvesey Castles in Winchester, amongst others and widely adopted by English Heritage, and on deteriorated limestone in King Herod’s Northern Palace, Masada, Israel. It has also been more recently used on All Saints’ Church, Ockham, Surry, as shown below.

Many of the cut stones which would have framed the largest of the windows on the western elevation were missing and required replacing or consolidation to prevent any further loss, structural failure and collapse.

Since the original fallen cut stones were missing and, therefore, had no evidence of their form; in line with the adopted conservation philosophy the tiling repair technique with grey slate and traditional lime mortar was used to consolidate the opening. The flags were cut and fitted (slightly recessed from profile of original stonework) without disturbing any existing stones and provided independent structural support as the original cut stone frame.

Corrageen, a stonemason’s farmhouse c late 17^th century, Victorianised in the latter half of the 19^th and restored and modernised by Ivor McElveen Associates at the end of the 21^st, situated 1,000 feet above sea level on the side
of the Blackstair Mountain, Co Wexford.