Wootton Bassett Town Hall

Wootton Bassett Town Hall is an old timber framed Market Hall on a ground storey of stone columns. It was 'restored' by the Victorians 100 years ago with techniques that were causing problems last year. Hard cement render panels were causing oak to rot. Decorative curved braces cut from straight oak were failing along short grain lines. Nailed joints rusted through and became loose.

Oak timbers before the restoration

Oak timbers after the restoration

The 'before' photograph is a close up of the same panel as the left hand panel in the 'after' photograph. Altham Oak and Carpentry did all the site carpentry and joinery work leaving the frame in the 'after' state. The main Contractor, Cliveden Conservation did the stonework, relathing, porous lime rendering and limewashing
The work you can see is about one third of the total.
We used stainless fixings to replace the nailed joints and cut the curved braces from bent stock.