For many years there were problems with rain and snow getting under the slates on the roof of the former East Kirk of St Nicholas. Historically, the roof had a very low pitch – 18 – and when it was given a slate roof after the fire of 1874, it would have required large overlap of slates to ensure no ingress in driving rain or snow. Over the years this led to a number of problems which had to be sorted out during Phase 1 of the restoration work.

In this post the focus is on one particular area on the north side of the building. The ceiling in the former Kirk has decorative plaster works, with corbels and bosses along the walls. The first photograph shows these structures. The wood inside the boss nearest the camera was, unknown to us, being damaged by wet rot caused by water running down the inside of the wall behind the lath and plaster.

During the Phase 1 works, the wood gave way and one morning it was found through the gallery floor as shown in the second photograph. It is fortunate that this happened overnight and that no-one was underneath. We will post about the actions we had to take later in the year.

With the new roof in place the walls are now perfectly dry, but are being monitored on a weekly basis.