November 1963

The picture below shows the external scaffolding currently in place on the east elevation, that has been erected to fix a leak in the lead box gutter built into the parapet wall. The small but continual leak has, over decades of neglect, destroyed the wooden floors all along the east elevation, so we also had to build a scaffolding tower on the inside to the same height to give internal roof access. Doing anything at Balintore Castle is hard! Using a combination of internal and external access: rotten timbers were replaced; the box gutter was "jacked up" by the 4 inches it had dropped, the roof was stripped, felted and re-slated. Now the box gutter is so firmly supported you can walk in this.  If you had tried to do so last week, you would have fallen through and dropped four floors accompanied by a shower of rotten wood.

Scaffolding on East Elevation

The internal scaffolding allowed unprecedented access to one of the attic bedrooms, and we found the following "graffiti" on the walls. It had clearly been under some wallpapering done in November 1963. I'm surprised decoration had been done this recently, but suspect it was virtually the last such. 

The text, which has been contrast enhanced for legibility, reads as follows:

PAPERED BY C.K.ScoTT
FOR B&G K. Nov 5TH 1963

PASTE BOY ANDREW PETRIE
FOR B&G K. NOV 1963

I know Petrie is a local name - does anyone know the paperer or paste boy?  Who are B&G K? :-)

Historic Graffiti Discovered on Attic Bedroom Wall