Last week I ventured into the library and took some atmospheric pictures of that segment of the castle. This week, or rather over the weekend I ventured into the Drawing Room compartment of the castle to survey the job in hand. As I said last time I am preparing to start the clearance work, and this is the area where we’ll start. This first shot is from the double-width aperture in the south elevation of the castle.
This compartment is as full, if not more so, than the library – it also contains one of Andy McLintock’s sculptures!
As you step inside however and look up you are confronted with some safety challenges:
Right above your head is this small, vestigial platform, hanging from which is a sash weight – an actual sword of damocles while the entrance is cleared. This will be one of the first tasks: to remove platform and weight before doing anything further …
The wall to the left in the above picture, is shown below at is imposing, vertiginous best below:
And just to reassure everyone, that this photo, taken from below aforementioned sword of Damocles, was accompanied by as much safety gear as possible!
To give the viewer a sense of the size of the compartment I took another vertical panorama:
While this is the most accessible of the compartments, there is an awful lot of materiel to clear, not least the wood. Once a path is cleared to the turret we’ll do another series.
For now though here’s a final panorama showing the full extent of the infill.
