November/December 2016- stonework

As mentioned before, the surrounding stonework of the fountain had been damaged both by tree and ivy growth, and by tree-felling machinery. Many stones were dislodged  by root growth or broken. It was also not clear how the fountain had been powered, or where the overflow was.

A damaged stone, lifted and re-set, nearly as good as new!

Winter is a good time for such work, and as these two pictures show, even a badly damaged stone can be taken out, cleaned and reset to look almost as good as new. Certainly once there is some plant growth around the fountain once more, the damage will not be evident.

The large tree stumps around the fountain posed more of a problem, but bit by bit the sections of stone were removed, roots cut away, and reset in mortar. As I write, at the end of January 2017 there are only two sections still to be completed, and by the spring of 2017 it should be finished.

Meanwhile the cracks in the bottom and sides of the fountain have been filled with mortar though it is not entirely sure if the fountain will hold water to one foot deep as it used to.

As for filling the pond, and the overflow, a water butt has been attached to the drainpipe of the garages of West Hall, which should allow a greater inflow of fresh water to the fountain to offset evaporation, and the original overflow pipe was discovered on the east side of the pond, leading to a soak-away, which will need to be unblocked.

Looking to the future, I have been researching solar powered pumps which might be a way to bring this wonderful feature to life once more.

The fountain in Dec 2016 - progress being made.