Hi everyone!
Apologies, I’m late to the tweets today as we had an urgent call out. We’re currently reroofing this little medieval church. The lead was stolen a few years ago and we put on a membrane, and are now recovering with steel. But the structural timbers look like this.
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Apologies, I’m late to the tweets today as we had an urgent call out. We’re currently reroofing this little medieval church. The lead was stolen a few years ago and we put on a membrane, and are now recovering with steel. But the structural timbers look like this.
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*GULP*
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Three of the five trusses are heavily decayed. Some are just dust in many places.
Not ideal, to say the least.
And the culprit? Deathwatch beetle.
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Not ideal, to say the least.
And the culprit? Deathwatch beetle.
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When a deathwatch beetle is in the mood for love, it bumps its head off the furniture.
These beetles chomp their way through woodwork, and the bumping is their mating call through the tunnels in the woodwork. In the past, however, their tapping was thought to herald death.
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These beetles chomp their way through woodwork, and the bumping is their mating call through the tunnels in the woodwork. In the past, however, their tapping was thought to herald death.
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This belief developed from sick rooms, where, in the long hours and stillness, those watching the dying heard the beetles tap out their cry for companionship from the long and lonely tunnels within the furniture.
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When death hung in the air, it's easy to understand how the watchers associated this sound with death knocking, or time ticking down... And hence, these tiny insects, earned the name, deathwatch beetle.
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The deathwatch beetle is popular in literature, capturing tension, fear and anticipation. It can evoke similar feelings in the bones of conservators. The larvae like to munch their way through hardwood - they've a particular penchant for damp and decayed wood.
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Depending on conditions, these larvae can live for up to twelve years... their voracious appetites leaving your timber with spectacular vermiculated finish... and stripping it of structural integrity. The damage can be quite devastating.
And this is where we find ourselves.
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And this is where we find ourselves.
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I’m on site with the architect, engineer and contractor, figuring out how to repair the roof, retaining as much historic fabric as possible, and trying not to blow the budget.
Did I say *gulp*?
#ADayInTheLife
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Did I say *gulp*?
#ADayInTheLife
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