The Days When Our House Was White

My entry of July 9th gave rise to comments regarding the weathering of the stone which our house is constructed with.

Today’s Blipfoto shows a corner constructed in dressed sandstone. The dark grey blue stone is whin. A very hard stone.

The sandstone erodes through the action of wind and rain over the last 181 years. 

Discernible is a grey line marked with white. This indicates  the boundary of the white roughcast coating which covered the whinstone. Unfortunately the coating did not adhere well to the whinstone and it started to fall off.

A friend has presented us with a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of various events which happened in the church over the last 100 years or so, the last one of which was our own wedding.

I discovered a photo which shows the building coated in the white roughcast. The photo also shows areas where the coating has fallen off.

That photo taken over 75 years ago is today’s extra and shows the South Elevation of the building.

Much has changed since these days. The building nearest the photographer is the Community Hall which is now a private house. We designed this project.

In between is Roseberry Cottage which was the Beadle’s House.

Hedges and Trees have been planted which totally change the view.

My own preference is for the stone revealed as it is today.

And the erosion of the sandstone. It is not structurally significant as it has taken place over 180 years. Another 180 years will make little difference.