Progress Report - November 2024

Since our last report in July, Chris our stonemason has continued his work, building-up the inner walls with lightweight blocks and laying the top layer of plinth stones.  This additionally involved installing insulation material, underfloor vents and a damp proof membrane.  These are of course all things of which the original building was entirely devoid, but are required to meet modern building regulations.

Top plinth stone laying in progress, note the decorative cast-iron air vents - 31-Aug-24

The 55 top plinth stones were all in place by early September, with the exception of one-corner stone which was inexplicably missing. How can you lose a quarter ton stone 1.35m in length, you may well ask.  A call to the suppliers proved that actually we hadn’t, it had got left behind in their yard!  All we had to do then was arrange delivery and work out how to unload it and transport it from the front of the station. Let’s just say that we are very grateful for the new entrance ramp. With that final plinth stone in place, Chris was able to add further height to the inner wall and early in October to start laying some of the original stone.  At time of writing this comprises 6” quoins (or cornerstones) with two layers of  3” coursing stones between, and is starting to extend around the building.  Sadly it will not be long now before the weather beats us and we will have to stop stone laying for the winter, but we are pressing on for a few weeks more.

The top plinth stone layer is completed by the errant corner stone (S51) in the foreground

The volunteer team have continued supporting Chris, ensuring that all the required materials are to hand, and drilling a hole in each of the plinth stones, and placing them so that they could be lifted into place. We also try to keep our building site as tidy as possible, by regular removal of rubbish and surplus packaging.

Frank Ellis measuring some recovered quoins - these are for the 'R' corner

A good attendance for eight days of work week at the beginning of August resulted in a good deal of progress, with up to ten people working on the project on any one day. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, not only working on the building but also taking advantage of the various social activities provided.

We were able to complete painting the steel superstructure up to black topcoat.  This is purely to protect the steel, as these steels are another structural element which the original building did not have, and they will not be visible once the building has been completed.

The first of the 'old' stone to appear on the building 22-Oct-24

Also in August we started moving some of the stone laid out along 8-road up to the building site.   This represents the first fruits of a long process of trying to find all those recovered stones which are suitable for re-use and to provide them to the builder in the right time and place. The process includes a great deal of note-taking and recording, so that Frank, our volunteer architect, can work out what we have and have not got and start to identify some of those parts which are missing or damaged beyond repair and will need to be replaced by new material. This will be an ongoing task for the next few years! During work week we transported to convenient places adjacent to the building site: all known remaining quoins, a quantity of door jamb stones and a quantity of window sill components.

Lionel Robbins, Ian Kinloch and Robert Heron near the urinal foundation work

We have completed finishing touches to the wooden post and rail fence on the station approach and have continued with work on the Castle Cary Cast Iron Urinal.
Sadly the urinal has been moved around the site on several occasions since it was originally recovered and consisting of thin cast iron panels is very fragile and consequently a number of the panels have broken or cracked. Pete Gransden has kindly repaired one of the bases and also one of the lower side panels.  We are intending to see whether some of the other panels might be repaired with a specialist gluing technique. We have cleaned and painted further panels and have recently started preparing the ground where the urinal will finally be sited. This involves building a small retaining wall around three sides of the area (the fourth side being the back of the platform) and preparing a suitable consolidated base on which the cast iron structure can rest.

If you can help, please contact Tim Part gws.heyford@outlook.com or via the Didcot Office, or turn up any Thursday.