Vinery Repairs, Culzean

Description

The contract is for repairs to the Vinery glasshouse at Culzean Castle The Vinery is an important component of the 18th C South Walled Garden at Culzean. The structure comprises a traditional timber framed lean-to style glasshouse some 70m long x typically 4.3m wide. The structure originates from the 19thC but was dismantled in the mid 20thC. During 1990’s archaeologists discovered the footings and complex below ground hypocaust system for conditioning the soil and heating to create conditions suitable for growing grapes in Scotland still existed. A replica of the timber framed glasshouse was designed and built by Cairn Conservatories of Killearn on top of the historic footings. It is part of the category A listed Walled Garden group listed by Historic Environment Scotland and is used by the gardening team to cultivate fruit. The several works involve manufacture of replacement casement windows and doors to replace decayed items, cutting out and replacing various decayed parts of timber framework, replacement of defective linseed oil putty, preparation and repainting of exterior and interior joinery surfaces and rear masonry wall (interior) and other minor works.