On-site lime burning in Cardiff

Locally-sourced limestone for the conservation of a ruined church

Manifest worked closely with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and their budding new offshoot SPAB Cymru (Wales), on the conservation of the ruined Church of St Mary at Caerau in Cardiff.  A nearby quarry (Aberthawe, owned by Tarmac) kindly donated quantities of blue lias stone, which we then calcined in the large limekiln at St Fagan’s Museum (using a kiln built some ten years ago by members of the Building Limes Forum).

We then slaked the quicklime on site at Caerau, producing dry hydrate of this feebly hydraulic lime for use on the works.