Ballencrieff Castle (11)
As excavation of the rubble in the building got down to the great hall floor level, they started to find pieces of plasterwork from the hall ceiling, which included initials and parts of coats of arms. As Peter wanted to restore the building as closely as possible to the original, the pieces were kept, but trying to work out the design from the pieces they had was problematic.
As they got down close to the floor at the west end of the hall, they began to find a layer of roof slates. Apparently, when the mansion burned down in 1868, the fire raged so intensely that the roof had collapsed right down through the upper floors and onto the great hall floor.
Eventually, under the roof slates they found well-preserved plasterwork that had been protected from the fire by the slates. To their complete surprise they found a complete section of plaster ceiling, lying face-up on the floor, from which they were able to work out the complete design of the original plaster ceiling. Once the rest of the building had been restored, they were able to take moulds from what they had uncovered to faithfully reproduce the original.
Ballencrieff Castle (11)
As excavation of the rubble in the building got down to the great hall floor level, they started to find pieces of plasterwork from the hall ceiling, which included initials and parts of coats of arms. As Peter wanted to restore the building as closely as possible to the original, the pieces were kept, but trying to work out the design from the pieces they had was problematic.
As they got down close to the floor at the west end of the hall, they began to find a layer of roof slates. Apparently, when the mansion burned down in 1868, the fire raged so intensely that the roof had collapsed right down through the upper floors and onto the great hall floor.
Eventually, under the roof slates they found well-preserved plasterwork that had been protected from the fire by the slates. To their complete surprise they found a complete section of plaster ceiling, lying face-up on the floor, from which they were able to work out the complete design of the original plaster ceiling. Once the rest of the building had been restored, they were able to take moulds from what they had uncovered to faithfully reproduce the original.