The central Portland stone statue represents Perseus riding Pegasus, rescuing Andromeda, who has been chained to a rock by the jealous Poseidon, from the sea monster. The bases are encircled by alternating grotesque fish and shells.

The contract brief allowed for the cleaning and conservation of the entire Portland Stone Fountain and careful repairs and also stone replacement including the carving of a new hand for Andromeda as well as other carved indents.

The fountain is fired on the hour throughout the summer but is not used in the winter. Over time, a large build-up of organic growth had developed on the statues. This organic growth has been a persistent problem. Historic photographs show that the growth has disappeared and reappeared quite regularly, thus suggesting there have been previous phases of cleaning.

The gardens remained open through out the contract and therefore the team needed to make arrangements for deliveries etc in a way which would not impede members of the public visiting. There was also a date in early 2017 when the fountain was going to be fired up again and therefore the work had to be executed within a particular time-frame so as to be ready on time.

Scaffold was erected around the fountain to allow access for the work. A public access platform was constructed to allow the public to view the work taking place. A number of cleaning trials had taken place previously establishing the cleaning methods to be used.

The re pointing of open joints was undertaken. Great care was taken to ensure the arrises of the stone were not further damaged by the raking out. Sound pointing was retained.  Areas of stonework that required mortar repairs needed to be sufficiently robust to withstand the continuous bombardment by water from the fountain.

As such, a combination of polyester-based resin, lithomex repair compound and larger dowels were specified. Individual stones as identified in the schedule of works were repaired by piecing-in new natural Portland stone, worked and finished to match existing.

The extent of masonry was re-evaluated in the inspection once the surface of the fountain had been cleaned. Prior to this project Andromeda’s hand had been removed. The new hand and wrist was carved off site in the workshop. The final carving was done on site to allow final measurements to be exact to the original. The section was then re-fixed.