Somerset Stonemasons rescue Taunton's Castle Hotel

17th November 2005

A top Somerset hotel and restaurant has called on the county’s international stonemasons to provide a repair and restore solution in time for the Christmas season.

Taunton’s Castle Hotel has commissioned Wells Cathedral Stonemasons to tackle decay to walls and windows fronting Taunton’s main shopping street.

Cheddar-based Wells Cathedral Stonemasons will replace pointing for the wall, fronting Taunton’s main shopping street, and rescue a window which has become bowed and unstable.

Peter Arkell, Managing Director of Wells Cathedral Stonemasons, explained: “All the stonework in the wall above the portcullis, fronting the main shopping street, had been pointed with hard cement, leading to damaging decay of the original stonework.

“The construction of an additional floor in the 1960s also created added pressure on the original windows”, he added.

As a result, the wall and windows fronting Taunton’s shopping centre now require urgent attention, which must be delivered before the Castle Hotel’s busy Christmas season.

Wells Cathedral Stonemasons have diverted craftsmen from major projects throughout the UK and overseas to meet this challenge.

“We have diverted a team of masons to deliver a pre-Christmas solution for the Castle Hotel”, said Mr Arkell.