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Plants removed to conserve castle's fallen tower

Indy Almroth-WrightSouth of England
The fallen tower at Corfe Castle after the conservation work

Layers of stone from a fallen tower that sits precariously over the mound at Corfe Castle have been cleared of plants and reset to protect it and keep it stable.

The guard tower, at the iconic ruins in Dorset, on the edge of a 30m (98ft) deep valley, was found to have large amounts of vegetation growing in between its stones pushing them apart.

The stones, weighing up to 90kg (198lb), were moved by hand from the tower on the steep slope to be cleared of plants before being reset carefully back into their original place.

Described as a "formidable task" the work at the tower, one of nine, is part of an ongoing three-year £2m conservation project by The National Trust, set to finish in 2026.

National Trust Corfe Castle tower covered in vegetation and ivy - only a few stones from the castle can be seen.National Trust
Before the work to remove the vegetation the tower's stones were being dislodged by vegetation

Eoin McDowell, experience and visitor programming manager at Corfe Castle said: "When the castle was destroyed it was blown up from the inside out so an awful lot of it leans from the inside out.

"This part of the castle was complex because it was on such a steep slope and had a lot of vegetation growth that had got in between the stones pushing them apart.

"We had to take away five to six layers of the castle and rebuild it to keep it safe"

He added the team working on the tower got "an amazing glimpse into a past life" after they found stone mason marks made 700-800 years ago.

National Trust Corfe Castle with scaffolding around a tower.National Trust
The work at the tower, one of nine, at Corfe Castle is part of an ongoing three-year £2m conservation project

Russell Coombe, project manager from Stonewest, specialist stone masons who carried out the work to conserve the tower said: "This has been the most challenging section of the castle to date.

"Not just because of the work needed, the precarious angle and drop to the valley below but the weight of each stone at 50-90kgs was challenging".

"We had to work with strength but absolute precision. It was phenomenal to see the work of the 13th century stone masons up close– such craftmanship".

National Trust Man in high-vis kneeling next to castle tower walls working with a hammer and chisel.National Trust
The National Trust said specialist stone masons undertook a "formidable task" to heave the stones from the tower over the valley to clear them of vegetation

The stones are not fully cleaned to protect important lichens which are carefully left alone.

The work on the tower is part of a wider three-year £2m conservation project at the National Trust-owned castle set to end in 2026.

The trust said the castle undergoes regular structural condition surveys and is structurally stable.

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