Our building team have been busily working away with the Stable building, which is starting to take shape nicely. The brick work of the front and back wall will be finished within the next few days, just leaving the two gable ends to complete.

Front wall almost finished.

To keep the rebuild true to the design of the original we have installed wooden lintels for the doors and windows. These have been cut from some large pieces of Green Heart, which we have had stored for some time. The timber, a native of the South American rain forests, is one of the strongest and hardest woods available. It was commonly used in collieries to build the Headstock frames for pulley wheels and as frame work for vertical winding engines, as can be seen in the Winding Engine House here at Beamish. It is also a timber favoured for the construction of piers and docks, as salt water has very little effect on the wood. On of Green Hearts most famous uses was as the outer skin on Endurance, the ship that took Sir Ernest Shackleton, through the ice, to the Antarctic.

Back wall

Also on the wood work front, Shaun and Daniel have been busy in the RHEC Joiner Workshop making the, many, windows and doors. These have been copied from the stables at Ricklees, which luckily retains many of its original features.

Shaun and Daniel working on one of the larger windows

A stack of small windows ready for painting

The current plan will hopefully see the brick work completed in the next few weeks. Once completed the woodwork for the roof structure can then commence along with sarking and slating which should see much of the structure completed early in the New Year (all weather dependent as ever!)