Hovingham Hall is located within Hovingham Estates the majority of which lies within the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the heart of North Yorkshire. The Grade I listed country house built in the Palladian style is full of unique and stunning architecture. As a local contractor, we were delighted to be awarded the project as Main Contractor to carry out external envelope repairs to the Stables, North and South Lodges. These included recovering of the roofs with associated leadwork, isolated re-pointing, isolated stone replacements, refurbishment of rainwater goods as well as external re-decoration.

Scaffold was erected to the North, South and East elevations ensuring it did not damage any of the building’s fabric. Existing Westmorland slates were carefully removed, re-dressed and re-holed for re-use. The existing battens and underlay were removed, taking extra care not to disturb the lath and plaster ceilings below. Whilst the existing roof covering was removed, we then carried out repairs to the timber roof structure using like for like timber species for replacement rafters and repaired purlin ends using traditional scarf joints.  Sheep’s wool insulation was fitted to ceilings and breathable felt and counter battens installed. The roof coverings were then replaced using reclaimed Westmorland Green slate in random widths and diminishing courses. 

Chimneys were repointed and chimney pots replaced with new, as well as all associated new leadwork to roofs, chimneys and gutters. The existing cast iron rainwater goods were removed to allow for full refurbishment including the replacement of corroded sections, abrasive cleaning, and resealing, followed by redecoration.

Repairs were carried out to existing painted timber windows, decayed sections of cills were cut out and replaced by splicing in new timber. 

Windows were then re-sealed and re-painted along with all external woodwork.

Areas of stone replacements and repointing were carried out to the building’s façade. All masonry joists were raked out using hand tools and repointed in lime. Replacement sandstone was sourced from a local quarry and our skilled stone masons carefully chopped out and replaced defective stones, avoiding any damage to surrounding areas.  

These works were carried out during busy operational hours on the estate and whilst the North Lodge remained occupied by its residential tenants.