Apprentices to restore historic Lady’s Well
A historic waterhole on a royally popular estate is about to be given a new lease of life.
Lady’s Well in Dumfries House Estate was destroyed during World War II but is set to be reinstated as part of a training initiative designed to promote traditional building craft skills.
Lady’s Well was dug prior to the stately home being built for William CrichtonDalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries between 1768 and 1772, to serve Leifnorris House, but was destroyed in 1944.
A small team of skilled apprentices have now been tasked with reinstating both the well and its overhead stone structure to its original design so that it can be admired by the 120,000 visitors that descend upon Dumfries House annually.
Gordon Neil, deputy executive director of The Prince’s Foundation, explained: “Lady’s Well was a structure which existed on the estate before the house was even built. Auchinleck craftsman Daryll McMurdo is overseeing a small team of building craft apprentices who have previously taken part in traditional craft skills training programmes at Dumfries House.
“The apprentices will get to expand their skills whilst restoring a historic structure for the local community and visitors to the estate.”
Stonemason Ollie Clegg was offered a position as an apprentice on the project after impressing staff with his contribution during The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community’s tenweek ‘live build’ project at the estate last year.
The 22-year-old said: “I’m really looking forward to reinstating Lady’s Well as getting the opportunity to work on historic sites such as this was why I wanted to enroll on the programme in the first place.”