Restoration

When Menter Môn acquired Aberlleiniog Castle in 2003, it was little more than a ruin.

The west tower and north wall, circa 1930. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.	The west tower and north wall in 2008.

Two of the remaining three towers were split by huge cracks, and the curtain walls between them were severely bowed and unstable.  The entire fort was in imminent danger of collapse, and it was a race against time to try to conserve the precarious structure before it was too late.  The burning question was, how could this be done without causing irreparable damage to the protected archaeological features – and could it be done in time?

One suggestion was to dig a deep hole in the interior of the fort, and to fill that with concrete.  The towers could then be attached by steel chains to the concrete ‘anchor’ to prevent them from tumbling into the moat.  When trial excavations inside the fort revealed the presence of seventeenth century archaeological material however, this idea was abandoned.  It was deemed far too destructive.  A re-think was required.

After much discussion, a custom-designed method of restoration was agreed, that combined modern building practices with traditional techniques.  This involved supporting the towers and walls with external scaffolding and bracing, and then dismantling the towers in stages, by hand.  The accumulated ‘fill’ material inside the towers could then be removed, and replaced by a strengthening refill made of a mixture of concrete interlaced with steel.  The towers and walls could then be gradually and carefully rebuilt to their original profiles and dimensions.

All in all, the conservation work took about 8 months to complete, beginning in September 2007, and finishing in April 2008.

Many thanks to the whole project team that worked so hard to save the castle.

Grateful thanks also go to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cadw and the Welsh Assembly Government for their financial support.