Castles

Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, GloucestershireBerkeley Castle

Client: Andrew Townsend Architects for the Berkeley Trust
Site: Developed in the 14th century from a 12th-century bastioned shell-keep made from a stone-revetted motte, Berkeley is a castle that has been in continuous occupation by the same family from the 1150s to the 21st century and a visited monument. The castle was amended and modernised by the eighth Earl in the 1920s and 1930s who introduced high quality architectural elements from elsewhere in England and from continental Europe.
Summary of Project: Analysis of and research into the standing buildings and structures as part of a Conservation Management Plan team that included the architect, a documentary researcher, a landscape historian and furniture historian.
Objective: The Conservation Management Plan covered the buildings, buried archaeology, the historic landscape and contents of the castle as the basis for future management.

Cardiff Castle, CardiffCardiff Castle

Client: Ferguson Mann Architects for Cardiff Council
Site: On the site of a Roman fort, a 12th-century and later castle partly re-cast and lavishly redecorated from 1866 by William Burges for the third Marquess of Bute, reputed to be the richest man in England. The Burges decoration was suffering from severe damp problems and, in places, a past history of poor quality re-painting.
Summary of Project: Working as part of a Conservation Plan team, Keystone provided room data sheets and research concentrated on the Burges decoration and the history of its treatment.
Objective: One of the main aims of the Conservation Management Plan was to identify the causes of the castle’s damp problems and resolve them in order to protect the Burges decoration.

Windsor Castle, Windsor, BerkshireWindsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire

Client: English Heritage
Site: The official residence of the Queen and largest occupied castle in the world. The castle fabric spans the 12th to the 21st century and includes state apartments, the round tower and St George’s Chapel.
Summary of Project: To revise the English Heritage description of the castle, using observation and analysis, combined with research undertaken by the castle archivist following the fire of 1992.
Objective: To provide information on the history and development of the castle for English Heritage and the castle staff responsible for the management of the castle fabric.

Star Castle, St Marys, Isles of ScillyStar Castle, St Marys, Isles of Scilly

Client: English Heritage
Site: Star Castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It was built as a fortification for Elizabeth I by Francis Godolphin, the Cornish magnate who leased the islands from the crown, and Richard Adams, an eminent professional surveyor/engineer. The castle retains its Elizabethan core, but underwent major refurbishments, one in 1700 and another in the mid 18th century, followed by minor 19th- and 20th-century modernisations. It takes the form of a central house enclosed by a broad rampart in the form of an eight-pointed star. The ramparts are enclosed by a ditch or dry moat which is now partly infilled. There is documentary and cartographic evidence for a counterscarp around the ditch which survived up until the late 18th – or early 19th century. There is no evidence for the construction of Godolphin’s proposed outworks.
Summary of Project: Documentary research, structural analysis, record photography, intensive recording of the castle buildings and landscape in the immediate vicinity.
Objective: To provide a better understanding of the castle and environment in terms of the historic defences on the Scillies and to inform repair and modernisation as a hotel.