During May, the CEP group spent 3 weeks working with Tay Landscape Partnership at Megginch. The Megginch Estate is between Perth and Dundee just off the motorway. They provided the group with real work experience and training in re-building and re-pointing rubble stone walling using traditional lime mortars. Extensive health and safety processes were discussed detailing the dangers of working with lime mortar. When water is added to the lime mortar, it generates a lot of heat. It was emphasised to the group to wear goggles as if the hot substance went into their eyes it could cause a lot of damage. The group then went on to mix the lime mortar before using it to point the wall. The mixing process was quite complex. The group took turns to mix the mortar to the correct consistency, as it was a heavy job. After lunch the group were shown how to point the wall. They managed to complete a substantial section of the wall before having to tidy up. On week 2 the group were shown how to do pointing. The tools needed for doing the pointing were a mortaring hawk and a variety of different sized trowels. The instructor gave a demonstration on how to transfer the mortar on the hawk to the trowel. He made this look very easy. To start with, the group found this a little tricky but soon got the hang of it. There was lots of teamwork and interaction with in the group while they were working. Week 3 saw a lot of hard, heavy, physical work with the group sorting out all the stones in preparation for rebuilding the wall. They had to separate the good large stones from the smaller different shaped stones into piles. The group thoroughly enjoyed their 3 weeks at Megginch and in week 4 they visited Stirling Castle which is an excellent example of a lime mortar building.
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