Pembroke Town Walls Trust not only aims to restore the medieval stone walls surrounding the town, but also to rebuild the traditional stone masonry skills needed to employ skilled local people to do the work. So as an outcome of the Trust’s recently completed pilot project at the rear of the Tabernacle United Reformed Church, Pembrokeshire College took an important step in half term week by hosting an introductory course in stonemasonry and lime mortars in their Construction Centre.

This was a three-day taster for 10 students with some experience of building but wanting to learn more about stonemasonry. It was led by the Tywi Centre from Carmarthen and funded by the Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC). Together the four organisations are taking steps to address the shortage of skills in Wales for working with older and traditional buildings.

The course was led by experienced tutor and stone mason Tom Duxbury.

“What a pleasure it was to deliver this course,” he said. “The group all worked well together and achieved seriously good samples of work. Everyone worked hard in their teams and I believe all the attendees took away beneficial knowledge and experience.”

From September, students undertaking bricklaying courses at the college will be offered 10 extra days of stonemasonry, also led by the Tywi Centre and funded by CWIC, and an appropriate work placement. This is a step to embed heritage building skills into mainstream qualifications. The Pembroke Town Walls Trust is funding work placements for these students with local stone masons and builders.

Helena Burke from the Tywi Centre commented: “We are thrilled to deliver the Introduction to Stonemasonry course as part of the Pembroke Town Walls Trust project. Training and inspiring the next generation of crafts people is crucial to sustainably preserving and protecting our remarkable built heritage in Wales.”

Howard Rudge, chair of the Pembroke Town Walls Trust, visited the course.

“I spent some time with the group on the methods of using lime and watched the students going through the various phases of making and using lime with stone to build walls,” he said. “We are especially excited about this important outcome of the first phase of our work and hope that some of these students and those undertaking the training next year will be employed to continue the restoration and conservation of Pembroke’s medieval walls.”