15/01/2019
Over the past 6 months, until just before Christmas, you may have noticed that the Clock Tower on Moray Estate’s steading at the Home Farm has been shrouded in a pretty significant scaffold. The reason for this is that the tower was being repointed by James Innes and Sons, Stonemasons from Doune. Along with the re-pointing, the opportunity was taken to replace the lead at the top of the tower. This work was done by local lead specialist William Breen. In addition, the clock faces have been re-blackened and new gold leaf has been added for the numerals by McLaren Signs of Alloa. At the same time new wooden louvres and windows replaced those which had been suffering from both wet and dry rot. This work was undertaken by Kings Joiners and Manufacturers from Doune, with special credit going to Jamie Landale, who happens to be the son of Andrew Landale, Doune Estate’s Head Forester. Finally a new weather vane has been installed to top the whole thing off, this being produced by Rod Fender of Black Forge Art
The repairs were necessitated by the delamination of some of the sandstone faces, which had become dangerous, with stone fragments liable to fall from considerable height. The work has now made the whole tower safe and also resistant to water ingress, whilst the gold on both the weather vane and the clock faces draws attention to what it is a historically significant building. The steading at the Home Farm is indeed a grade A listed building, originally designed for the 9th Earl of Moray by William Stirling in 1807. It is believed from dates etched into some of the previous lead work, that the last time a major renewal occurred was approximately 100 years ago. Moray Estates now hope that this won’t need to be re-visited for at least another 100 years! It has however made the need for stone repairs further down the building more obvious and the plan is to attend to these in the near future.
The stonework was mostly undertaken by Adam Innes, oldest son of Jimmy Innes. Jimmy is the 5th generation owner of the stonemasonry business based in Doune. The photos show the extent of the works and also the “opening” by John, the current Earl of Moray, with Adam and Jimmy Innes