Scaffold walkway opens at 17th-century house

A new rooftop walkway will give visitors a unique chance to get onto the scaffolding of Dyrham Park and see the work being done to replace the 150-year-old leaking roof on the historic house.

National Trust Director General Dame Helen Ghosh visited the property near Bristol on 5 May for the official launch. From 9 May visitors will be able to make their way onto the a fully accessible rooftop walkway and watch the builders stripping 46 tonnes of lead and 8,000 Welsh slates from the roof before repairing and rebuilding it. The walkway will be open daily until 20 December.

Building the walkway

It took a team of just five scaffolders from the Bristol-based SGB scaffolding four months to build the 90ft structure, with the help of four carpenters to build the walkway, a team from Plymouth-based Tufcoat to wrap the structure and and Bristol-based Ken Biggs to oversee the project. The project to replace the roof at Dyrham Park also includes repairs to the stonework on the building and replacing the old and inefficient heating system with a new biomass boiler, which will provide proper conservation heating of the house for the first time.

The solid walkway, which is 230 metres long, is all on one level and gives great views of the split level roof. There are two large 7.5 metre viewing platforms looking out over the ancient deer park and the formal West garden with its picturesque ponds and Perry pear orchard. On a clear day, you can see across to Bristol and beyond.

Safeguarding the future

The entire project, which is costing £3.8m, will continue until early next year and will safeguard the future of the 17th-century house, its original Dutch-inspired interiors and an important collection of furniture and paintings collected by 17th-century Government Administrator William Blathwayt.

Colette Cuddihy, the National Trust’s project manager said: “This is a major project for us – the roof is 150-years-old and we’d expect the new one to last at least as long. So it really is a once in a lifetime chance to get up onto the scaffolding and to see the extent of the work needed to take apart such a large and complex roof and make it weather tight and secure for the future.

“We have used 500 tonnes of scaffolding to clad the house – it is designed to include a new walkway which circles the whole roof with two viewing platforms giving a view both inwards over the roof and out from the scaffolding across the park and gardens of Dyrham Park. It is fully accessible with a lift as well as stairs.”

Sign a slate

Visitors to Dyrham Park will also have the chance to leave their own message on the roof by signing one of the new slates, in return for a £25 donation to the Sign a slate fundraising campaign.

“As a charity, the National Trust relies entirely on donations, grants and legacies as well as its membership and commercial income,” said Cath Pye, Dyrham Park’s General Manager.

“The support already shown by the public for Dyrham Park has been fantastic. We have had support from thousands of people so far making contributions both large and small. We are very grateful to them and to our volunteers at Dyrham Park. We have created the sign a slate idea to give more people the chance to show their support and make a connection with the property that will last for years to come.”

The rooftop walkway will be open daily from 10am-5pm (last entry 4pm) as part of a range of new displays at Dyrham Park. For more information, please visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dyrhampark