Repair plan for Cowane’s historic railing

Repair work on the historic railing at Stirling’s iconic Cowane’s Hospital, vandalised a few years ago, is scheduled to take place in the coming months.

The balustrade, which surrounds the terrace to the east of the A-listed building, has been the target for vandals on three occasions in the past decade with stonework deliberately toppled over by force.

Yobs damaged the balusters in 2010, 2014 and October 2018. Following the most recent vandalism stone components were salvaged, labelled and stored within the building.

Cowane’s Hospital was built in the 1650s with money bequeathed by city merchant John Cowane following his death in 1633. The balustrade was added in 1701.

A document submitted with the listed building application states that ‘a substantial part’ of the upper terrace balustrade is missing as well as other architectural features.

It points out: “The condition of the upstanding stonework is generally sound. However, the condition of the stonework from the collapsed upper terrace is poor, with fractures and broken stone elements due to the impact of the collapse.

“Our approach to the repair of the balustrade is one of conservative repair where the aim is to retain as much original material as possible.

“Our proposal is to indent new stone or to make mortar repairs to original fractured stone components.

“To minimise the visual impact of the new supporting steelwork the ‘visible’ steelwork will be recessed into the underside of the cope stones and will be painted, either with micaceous iron oxide or a high solids polyurethane finish in dark grey.”

The balustrade work is separate to the wider renovation project at the former almshouse which is costing around £800,000.

This includes roof repairs, stone repairs, harling and lime washing.

Last August HES provided a £321,985 grant towards repairs. The remainder is expected to come from smaller grants from other funding bodies including the patrons of Cowane’s Hospital Trust and Stirling Council. However, part of the remaining HES grant is expected to fund the balustrade repairs.

Cowane’s Hospital Trust project officer Sandra McGinley said this week the balustrade work was currently out to tender, but the cost is expected to be “significant.”

She added: “The planning department has until April 9 to determine the application for Listed Building Consent so it is unlikely that the work will commence before then.

“We hope to use as much of the original stone as possible. The repairs are fairly complex.

“It is anticipated that the repairs will take approximately 12 weeks to complete.”