Markenfield Hall - 19th October

This week saw the group kick off a new project at Markenfield Hall, this is an exciting time for us as we begin the restoration of a park pale. The pale at Markenfield is also a scheduled ancient monument so this a project that requires not only a high level of technical ability but also care and attention to the heritage value of the walls structure and location.
We started by assessing the wall and trying to determine its original path and dimensions.

The pale has a ditch on the inside face which originally would mean the height that side was enough to keep the deer in the park.

Investigations in the rubble indicated that the foundations were not as broad as feared and we determined they should be 3' wide by ground level. We cleared away all the stones and replaced some of the foundations where they were missing. Once we had established a level to work from we built the wall up to ground level (on the outside wall).

The pale has a challenging mix of stone, some sandstone which we have deduced is part of the original wall and field cobbles which seem to have been used to patch up the wall over time. We felt the outside face of the wall is the most visible side of the wall (especially when the vegetation regrows on the inside face) so elected to use as much original stone here as possible.

We made good progress with a good turnout in lovely weather (long may it last) and by 3pm had reached ground level.

Thanks to Richard, Chris, Phillip, Roger, Graham B, Graham D, Barry and Nick for your hard work this week.

Em