Fettercairn Arch, Fettercairn | Restoration Case Study

Our role: Contractor
Client: Aberdeenshire Council

Fettercairn Arch is a Category B listed Romanesque arch built in 1864 to 1865 to commemorate Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's visit to the village in 1861, designed by John Milne of St Andrews. For Aberdeenshire Council we conserved and repaired the arch, its octagonal towers, spirelets and crenellated parapet.

Before & after

Drag across the image to compare the building before our work and after completion.

Fettercairn Arch after restoration by LTM Group

BeforeAfter

The challenge

The stonework was decaying and delaminating, the parapet showed movement, lettering and detail on the Royal Arch had eroded, and earlier plastic repair mortars and inappropriate repairs to the spirelets were accelerating decay. Ferrous iron cramps were also corroding within the masonry.

Our solution

We descaled delaminating stone, removed biological growth and stabilised and consolidated the masonry. Plastic repair mortars were removed and replaced with pigmented lime mortar repairs to match the stone, and inappropriate spirelet repairs were redone in stone. New copes were cut and dressed to the original dimensions and profile, the iron cramps were replaced with stainless steel dog cramps fixed with molten lead, and the arch was repointed in lime.

Outcomes

Historic fabric retained

Sympathetic conservation kept as much original stone as possible.

Corrosion removed

Iron cramps replaced with lead-run stainless steel dog cramps.

Repairs that match

Pigmented lime mortars and new stone copes blend with the original.

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