Masonry experts from PAYE Stonework and Restoration harnessed the new technology of digital photography to help them reproduce the ornate carved finials decorating the old Public Record’s Office in central London.

The Chancery Lane site was commissioned following an Act of Parliament in 1838 prompted by the need to house all the public records – some of which date back to the Norman Conquest – in a single vicinity and protect them from ‘erasure, alienation and embezzlement.’ Now that all the documents have been re-housed at Kew, Sir James Pennethorne’s massive mock-Tudor building is receiving an extensive face-lift.

The PAYE specialists were called in to rescue, and in some cases completely re-make, the complicated carved Portland stone decorations embellishing the building’s clock tower. Using small, hand held digital cameras, the PAYE engineers recorded all of the tower’s crumbling detail. These computer images were then used to generate detailed drawings from which the stone carvers could work.

The ornate pinnacle topping the clock tower was dismantled and replaced with a new copy. Portland stone, carefully chosen to replicate the original for colour, texture and quality produced a repair that was indistinguishable from the Victorian mason’s work.

In addition to the turret of the clock tower, PAYE craftsmen carved Portland stone repairs to a coat of arms and other emblems decorating the Library, Here too, carefully matching materials ensured the integrity of the structure’s appearance was protected.

As well as the complex carved stonework replacements, company specialists have repaired much of the main building’s stonework and carried out extensive cleaning and re-pointing. Being one of England’s most experienced repairers of Kentish rag stone, PAYE experts were able to replace an repair sections of the structure in which these materials had been used.

The old Public Records office, now know as the Rolls Estate after the Rolls Chapel, which was demolished in 1895 to make way for two new blocks and a museum, contains a variety of constructional stonework all requiring individual and specialist attention from the PAYE workforce. Cabey stone, an unusual buff coloured granular Oolitic limestone, is used in some of the building’s ashlar walls.