Sudeley Castle - Wood Boring Insect Treatment

Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire  - (Wood-boring Insect Treatment)

Castles with such significance, warrant the importance to not just maintain the original features and techniques that are very different from those used now, but to preserve the fabric of legendary estates from decay and rot for years to come.

One contract that we were elated to have been invited complete was that at, Sudeley Castle, in 2014.

When we were consulted, roof repairs had already progressed on the North, East, and West wings of the castle with damage from wood-boring insect having been discovered in the trusses, rafters, and ridge.

• We conducted a survey to inspect the roofing timbers and found an active infestation of Anobium Punctatum, the common furniture beetle and historic damage from Lyctus Brunneus and Xestobium Rufovillosum.
• Decay and rot was discovered in two lead valleys; on some concealed rafter ends and the wall plate.
• Besides instructions for any severely damaged timber to be supported and braced, we carried out our water-based insecticide treatment to the ridge, trusses, and rafters, in the three wings comprising the original structure that surrounds the courtyard.

The grounds lay claim to over a millennium of history and the Grade I listed castle itself has woven an important role in the bloody and ever-changing times of England’s past. Sudeley has been passed through many royal houses since the 12th century, it gave refuge to Charles I as a royalist headquarters during the English civil war and it remains the only private castle in England to have a queen buried within the grounds, Katherine Parr, the last and surviving wife of King Henry VIII – who lived and died in the castle.