From castles to churches, palaces to abbeys, England’s eclectic range of structures are recognised globally as being of those of great historic significance, stunning architectural display and wonderful artistic beauty.
The WallWalkers team have been blessed with the privilege of working on a variety of listed buildings across the United Kingdom, enabling them to hang from palace walls, peer through moat-side castle windows in to rooms blocked-in and unseen for hundreds of years, and walk along the precarious wall top edges, overlooking waves that crash against the base of cliff faces tracing the edges of nowhere.
Continuing these blessed projects, the WallWalkers team recently carried out a condition survey on Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, which included a full scale, hands on assessment of all high level sections close to the sensitive areas open to the public.
Following the survey, the rope access team were then called in to carry out vegetation removal and the defrassing of loose stone and mortar causing potential hazards in these areas.
While abseiling from the stunning architecture, the team were photographed for multiple newspaper articles, who proudly announced the imminent re-opening of the palace grounds to the public for Easter.
The highflying historic conservation team subsequently made it in to four newspapers, including two front page articles.
Here is an excerpt from the official Blenheim Palace article on the works carried out:
Scaling the Palace – WallWalkers Rope Access
A team of highly-skilled workmen have scaled the outside of the Palace checking for any loose or damaged stonework.
The abseiler (pictured) came face to face with the 30-tonne bust of King Louis XIV, looted by the Duke of Marlborough in 1709, during an exterior inspection of Blenheim Palace.
The work is undertaken annually and any areas requiring repair are marked on a plan by the abseilers.
Scaffolding has also been erected in other areas, and a team of stonemasons remove the damaged sections, which are carefully measured to enable exact copies to be carved and then re-installed.
The vast bust of France’s famous ‘Sun King’ was taken from the city gates of Tournai, by the First Duke of Marlborough in 1709 during the War of Spanish Succession against the French.
The Duke had it shipped back to England and carefully mounted high onto the south-facing part of the Palace. This meant that whenever he was sitting at the dining table in the Saloon his back would be facing his vanquished foe.
The work was carried out by Bristol-based WallWalkers, one of the UK’s most renowned rope access companies who specialise in historic and listed-building restoration.
Some of the project’s images and a couple of the newspaper articles can be seen below. {gallery}blog/blenheim-palace{/gallery}
