Supporters will note that it was necessary to dismantle part of the wall a few years ago to prevent it collapsing. A pesky tree route had pushed the wall out to such a degree that our intervention was necessary. Our friend and local stone wall expert Rebecca Cook made good the opening to prevent it getting worse while we set about fundraising for the repair.
We were thrilled to tell you in February that the works were planned and to say we were excited would be an understatement. You might find this excitement amusing but we’ve been staring at that hole in the wall for far too long.
Completed wall 
Completed wall during wildflower bloom 
Close up of mortar 
Before! 
More works needed on Albert Road
Even with your donations safely banked, we still had one more hurdle to jump – a condition of our listed building consent dictated that the council needed final sign off of our mortar mix. Again, massive thanks to Rebecca Cook for providing the specification for this.
Hythe firm Taylor Earnshaw Building Limited started work in June and completed a few weeks later. We hadn’t anticipated the extent of the damage to the wall and unfortunately some sections required more work that expected but we were in good hands!
Our volunteers had spent many workdays sorting through a mass of ragstone on site and this hard work meant we didn’t need to buy in a single stone!
Our sincerest thanks to Ken and Jill Stewart for storing the original coping bricks for us and Rebecca Cook for her expertise, support and guidance over the last 8 years.
Remember, this would not have been possible without your donations. We are now raising funds for the remaining sections of the wall.
With so much development going on locally, protecting our heritage seems more important than ever but it does come at a cost, and with your help – our little animal pound could stand for another 200 years!
The next phase will see us repair, consolidate and rebuild sections of the wall on Albert Road and St Leonard’s Road. You can see just how urgent the works are in the pictures below.
We need to raise an initial £4,000 to start this work. At the time of writing, we have £1,500.
Every penny we receive furthers our charitable objectives but in this cost of living crisis, please only give if you can afford to. There are other ways to help, keep an eye on our Facebook group for details of our working days (you don’t need to be a Facebook user to see our posts).
You can help preserve this unique part of Hythe’s history by donating online via https://donate.hythetriangle.uk or get in touch to discuss a contribution by other means.