Client: CS Birks
To enable the work, a temporary dam of sandbags was installed, and the moat water was pumped overland into a nearby tributary stream. Once the area was dewatered, the existing sluice components were carefully dismantled and preserved. New concrete formwork was set in place, and concrete was poured to create a replacement sluice race and headwall.
The original 18th-century cast-iron sluice mechanism was then cleaned, repaired, and refitted with durable Greenheart timber boards, chosen for their resistance to the alternating wet and dry conditions that had caused the previous timber to decay. All works were carried out with particular care to avoid disturbing the approximately 2000 ducks that reside on castle grounds.
Authentic
Restoration and Reconstruction
Owen Pell was commissioned to replace the rotten and collapsed sluice gate serving the moat at the 15th-century Bronsil Castle near Ledbury.
