Pointing English ballast bricks in Barbados, during the second day of our heritage skills workshop in Bridgetown.

Today we used lime that we had previously burnt and slaked for some repointing work at the former Garrison in Bridgetown. After sieving the lime, we added 1 part Guyana silica sand, and ½ parts ¼” down and fine but clean coral stone sand.

After chiselling out previous cement mortars that were damaging the brick, and removing cracked and damaged bricks, we inserted old matching ones, that we found on the wider site, before pointing up with our lime rich mortar.

M Womersleys on behalf of the Queen Elizabeth II, Platinum Jubilee Commonwealth Heritage Skills Training Programme, funded by the Hamish Ogston Foundation, is delivering the programme. Providing enhanced skills to tutors and students from the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology, the Barbados Vocational Training Board, and the museum maintenance team.