Location
Winchcombe, Gloucestershire
Stone
Repairs to the existing cornice and parapet
Scope
Decayed cornice and parapet above the porch cut back and made good

The problem

The porch is a classical one — pilasters, a moulded arch over the door, and a heavy cornice carrying a parapet above. The cornice is the part that takes the weather, and it had gone: the top surface spalled and blown, with sections broken away and the face opening up.

It also sits directly over the front door, which constrains everything about how you work on it.

Decayed stone cornice and parapet on top of a classical porch, spalled and broken away, with ladders up against it
Before: the cornice blown and broken back, ladders up.

What we did

The failed stone was cut back to sound material and the cornice and parapet made good along the top of the porch, worked in place from ladders rather than stripping the feature down.

The Winchcombe house frontage during the work, porch and elevation seen from the street over the hedge
During: the porch seen against the rest of the frontage.
The repaired porch cornice and parapet, clean and continuous above the arched doorway
After: cornice and parapet continuous again.

The result

A porch that sheds water off its cornice instead of into it — which is the difference between a repair now and a much larger job in a few years.