Cannon | MacInnes

Wallace Monument (Rab & Linda)

Stirling
2013
Stirling Council

Stained Glass Portrait of Sir William Wallace, made by Ballantine & Allan, Edinburgh, 1886

Wallace before

Stained Glass Portrait of King Robert the Bruce, made by Ballantine & Allan, Edinburgh, 1886

Bruce before

Detail of William Wallace's head before removal, showing cracks around his head where the lead is being pulled apart due to movement within the stonework. The window was at risk of falling out.

Wallace's head before

Detail of the "Spider" cherry picker we used to enable us avoid disturbing iron age archaeological remains around the base of the tower, whilst allowing a maximum working height up to the outside of the windows.

Spider cherry picker below

Detail showing the full reach of the spider cherry picker of 30m above ground level to reach the window openings

Spider fully extended

Detail of Bronze statue of Sir William Wallace, and the side of the Wallace Monument, with the Spider nearing full height extension.

Wallace and Spider

Detail of some of the marble busts inside the Hall of Heroes, which had to be fully protected during the removal and installation of the windows.

Marble busts before

Details of protection: cotton, bubble and blankets were covered over each bust to protect them from dust and debris during the removal and installation phases on-site.

Covers

Interesting momentary image of the marble busts, covered in blankets, prior to wooden cladding being installed; they look like ghosts in the Tower

Ghosts in the tower

All of the busts, and the Wallace Sword, were covered with plywood to prevent impact damage. All of the internal scaffolding and protection were carried up and down 200 steps of the internal staircase by hand - twice.

Wooden cladding

Detail showing Rab MacInnes (inside on internal scaffold) and Jon Laird (outside on spider cherry picker) during the removal of the Wallace window.

Removing Wallace (Jon and Rab)

Detail showing the removal of the first panel - Wallace's head, after three hours of careful maneuvering.

Removing Wallace's head

View from the crow's nest at the top of the spider.

View from the spider

Back in the studio, a rubbing was taken of each panel prior to conservation.

Taking a rubbing

Detail showing the condition of the lead before conservation - showing multiple stress cracks throughout the panel.

Broken lead

Most of the panels were completely stripped of their lead. However, the more complex areas of leading were retained, such as Bruce's shield, which was later incorporated intact into the new leading.

Bruce stripped

Each piece of glass was carefully cleaned of 150 years of dust and debris.

Cleaning the glass

Cleaning Bruce's head

Cleaning Bruce's head

A small number of pieces of the border glass were repainted to match the original broken pieces.

Repainting

Apart from the border glass, all other broken glass was restored either by Hxtal epoxy resin and backplating, or CAF 3 & CAF 33 silicon resin.

Conserving the original glass

Inscription: Glazed by Alex Aikman + Andw Robb May 1886

Inscription

Leading up Wallace's legs

Leading up

Health & safety, splitting the lead.

Health & Safety

The old leaded shield is carefully inserted into the newly leaded panel

Old lead - new lead

Rab being impaled by Wallace's sword during installation.

Installation

It's a long long long way down once the window is removed.

View from the window cill

But the view from the window opening was amazing.

View

Installing King Robert the Bruce: Rab on the inside, Jimmy Innes on the spider outside doing the lime mortar pointing.

Installing Bruce

Detail of Bruce's shield after installation

Detail of Bruce's shield

Rab and William Wallace finally installed

Wallace after

 

 

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