Next week there is a festival with a difference which will begin with some talks on the Canongate.
You can go along and see how traditional building skills are used to help maintain our country’s old buildings.
On 23 August there is a stonemasonry demonstration featuring Marcus Paine and Richard Groom at 10.30am for an hour, followed by a lime mortars demonstration with Roz Artis and Scott MacAskill at noon and marbling and graining techniques as well as sign writing skills at 2.00pm with Robin Abbey and Mark Nevin.
On Wednesday 24 August there are demonstrations about how to care for your sash and case windows when Keith Swann will show how they work. At 12.30 Andrew Laing from the Charles Laing Foundry will show the casting process for architectural cast iron. At 2.00pm Adam Wilkinson of Edinburgh World Heritage will explain how Edinburgh buildings can be repaired and maintained properly.
On Thursday 25 August there is a roof slating demonstration at 10.30am (we hope this is on the ground!) with Scott Miller and at 12 noon you will be shown the expertise needed for repairing lead roofing. At 3.00pm there will be a walk up Calton Hill with Luis Albornoz and Paul Everett of British Geological Survey when they will explain the geology in Edinburgh.
On Friday 26 August there is a free tour of Riddle’s Court at 12.30 and repeated again at 2.00pm when you will be able to see for yourself the way that a 16th century merchant’s house is being renovated. This is a hard hat tour.
On Saturday 27 August from 10.00am to 3.00pm the Craigmillar Castle Craft Skills Festival takes place when you can learn about medieval construction and go on a guided tour. Entry fee to get in to the castle will apply.
The events are otherwise all free but there is a registration page here.
If you have any questions then get in touch with John McKinney who is organising the events. fss-ltd@btconnect.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
