Over the years, the Grimsthorpe Castle estate near Creeton has been home to an abbey, a railway and – on a brief visit – Henry VIII. Parts of the grounds have always been used for farming, however. And it was a disused farm building that we were brought in to preserve over the course of this three-month project.

A former dairy barn on the property had developed a lean, and our challenge was to protect the structure from further movement while retaining as many of the original features as possible. When it came to re-roofing the barn, we saved every slate we could as we replaced rotten rafters, fitted breathable membranes and added fresh latting.

We also installed a new large-flow gutter and soak away, and undertook major repointing across the whole barn. The age and level of deterioration meant that we had to remove roots and foliage from within the stonework before we tackled rebuilding the loft door.

Finally, we fitted bird netting across all doors and windows to keep pests out, and installed plumbing points to monitor and mitigate against any further structural movement.