Plan: After five long years of planning and fundraising, Limekilns Heritage Trust has taken the first steps to save the collapsed south-west corner of the pier, which has suffered very badly from recent storms. It is the Trust’s intention to restore the pier so that it looks identical to how it looked prior to the current deterioration. The original facing stones will be reused with the addition of a more resilient core structure.
The initial plan involved gaining the approval to dig test pits to allow a surveyor to fully understand the construction of the pier.
Approval: The planned work had approval from Broomhall Estate, SEPA and Marine Scotland and the trustees have also consulted with Fife Council.
Survey: In March 2018 the charity commissioned David Narro Associates to conduct an extensive survey of the pier. The aims of the survey were:
- to establish how much remains of the lower parts of the southwest corner of the pier. It is hoped that sufficient structure remains on which to build a replacement wall.
- to establish how the external walls are founded. This was to be done by digging trial pits around the foot of the walls using a mechanical excavator.
Test Pits: Trial pits were a necessary measure to plan any future restorative action. The aim of the pits was to ascertain the extent and nature of the pier foundations, upon which any future structural repair would be built.
On Thursday 18th & Friday 19th March 2021, several test pits were dug by APL Construction Limited¹. The work was supervised by an engineer from David Narro Associates, who is a Conservation Accredited Professional Advisor. Conservation was of primary importance during this work and the excavation was only into material that had spilled from the damaged section of the pier with no material being removed from the site. The pits were then re-filled to their original level after the survey.
Initial indications, after the digging of the trial pits, is that the lower part of the structure is still intact.
Additional Actions: As an ancillary aspect of the survey work, some of the fallen stonework and washed-out infill was raised and placed on exposed areas of the pier core. This was done to afford some temporary protection from the elements.
After the investigation works were completed, the excavated material was replaced to approximate previous levels. Some of the spill material was moved around inside the pier to try to stem the erosion.
The photograph below gives an indication of what the work entailed; the photo was taken in August 2020.
Key to photograph:
Area A This is approximately where the excavator formed a ramp. The ramp enabled the excavator to remove the large fallen wall stones so that the surface of the underlying fill could be inspected. The plan is to strengthen the core using gabion cages and inspecting the core helped in assessing the layout of the gabions.
Area B This is a shallow trench to identify the back surface of the pier wall, this area will hopefully eventually form the base for the first layer of gabions.
Area C This trench was dug out to expose the outside face and corner of the pier. The area was backfilled to or above the level of the existing pier wall, thus protecting the integrity of the structure.
Area D Some of the excavated material was deposited here, but because of the fragile nature of the west wall, the deposit was just that required to stop further erosion.
Area E This was used to deposit the excavated material and some of the big wall stones. This will help to stem the erosion of the surfaces near the east wall
Funding: Thanks to Awards for All, generous donations from villagers and a variety of fundraising activities over the past five years, Limekilns Heritage Trust has been able to meet the costs of these test digs. To progress beyond this stage will require more expenditure on running costs, materials and a contractor to complete the restoration. Consequently, there will be more fund-raising activity required as well as the kind support of villagers if we are to re-build the pier.
Notes;
¹APL Construction Limited were appointed by Scottish Water in 2019 to carry out repairs at Capernaum pier and the trustees have been impressed by their work.