We had a very productive week between August 6 and August 14, culminating in the unveiling/dedication of the new interpretive panel on the island on August 14th. On August 6, the stone plinth for the sign was constructed by WSDSWA and major tree surgery was done to remove fallen trees laying across buildings 4 and 5. The large fallen oak across Building 4 was cut back to its stump but remained in its overturned posiion and supported by cut logs (as we had done in the first 2012 project). Since there was a large amount of entrained soil in the root ball, we sought clarification/permission to remove that soil to allow the root ball to either be cut out by hand tools or reset in its original position. HES confirmed permission and we arranged an additional work day on August 12. Under Fiona Baker's supervision, the team cleared the soil from the root ball, returning the soil to its natural location, and tree surgeon Liam Mackenzie manually winched the root ball back into its original position. Although this was an expensive additional work, the result was much more aestherically appealing and better for access and preservation. In addition, Liam was able to remove two sapling from the wall heads that had grown too large (during the pandemic) for our manual pruners but still less than 10cm (and covered under the second SMC). Our annual maintenance trips usually keep the saplings small enough to be trimmed with a pole trimmer, so it was important to cut these two larger saplings that had gotten away from us during the pandemic.
These works were quite expensive and we will need a little time to recover, but we do complemplate at least one more trip to remove several other trees threatening the structures. These have been identified during Joss Durnan's visit (HES) in 2019 and with Hugh McBrien's visit (WOSAS) on August 14th. This trip would likely focus on removing an Ash at the north wall of the tower and trees from the outbuilding walls. We continue to try to lighted the old yew at the wall just northwest of Building 4 rather than removing it, as recommended.
Note that there is still a hole (fallen rock) in the cellar ceiling, but the archaeologists examined it again on the 14th and decided that no immediate action would be recommended on that. While we have previously cleared all brambles within the tower, we decided to leave the brambles over the cellar to discourge foot traffic and extra weight on the cellar structure.
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