Resurrection for crumbling wall

Monday 30 August 2004

One of the University of St Andrews’ most historic and threatened features will be unveiled today after a two-year restoration programme.

Grade “A”‘ listed by Historic Scotland, the Long Walk Wall in St Mary’s Quadrangle is considered a structure of international importance but time, north-east coastal weather and encroaching plants such as ivy had undermined its fabric.

The restoration works were funded by generous donations from the P F Charitable Trust, the Veneziana Fund, the Scotbelge Charitable Trust, Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust, the A Sinclair Henderson Trust, the Alan Evans Memorial Trust and the late Roderick M Urquhart (MA 1939). Additional funding was provided by the University.

Works were prioritised into two sections, the north and south, and involved repairing, repointing and refitting stones and, in the case of dangerous areas, taking down and rebuilding the walls altogether. The works were carried out by local stonemasons and flags were also laid at the base of the walls to provide surface water drainage and suppress vegetation growth. Landscaping works will be carried out to the verge area, with the intention of re-opening St Mary’s Garden during limited periods of the year.

First documented in the 1620s at the time of the remodelling of St Mary’s College by its Principal, Robert Howie, the line of the wall marks the original dividing boundary of two medieval plots laid out in the 12th Century. The wall later became a key feature, delineating the Principal’s garden, a 17th century garden specialising in medicinal plants and later, in the 19th century, the town’s first botanical garden. As well as being an historic feature, the wall remains an important civic amenity for St Andrews, providing the public with a walkway from St Mary’s College Quadrangle, along the side of the wall to the quiet residential street of Queen’s Terrace.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS

You are invited to send a reporter/photographer to the Long Walk Wall, St Mary’s Quadrangle, South Street, St Andrews at 11am on Tuesday 31 August 2004.

Issued by Beattie Media On behalf of the University of St Andrews For more information, please contact Claire Grainger, Press Officer – 01334 462530, 07730 415 015 or [email protected]; Ref: press releases/longwallwalk View the latest University news at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk


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