Abseiling team carry out repairs at Lindisfarne Castle

Limewash is being reapplied to the north wall of the castle facing the Gertrude Jekyll garden following damage caused by Storm Arwen.

Nick Lewis, collections and house officer at the National Trust property, said: “The north elevation was first harled and limewashed back in 1996 to deal with horrible water ingress and damp problems in the rooms behind it, and then in the major project in 2016-18 we repaired it and reapplied limewash, the sacrificial layer which weathers so the stone doesn't have to.

“There are five coats of limewash, with the two base coats being white; the idea is that when you start seeing white appear, you know that the top three pigmented coats have worn away and it is time for repairs.

“That process should take 10-15 years, but a couple of storms in 2019, the lack of any major works in 2020-21 for obvious reasons, and then the battering we took last November, has meant work has had to occur far earlier than we scheduled.

“I think in 2018 we had envisaged that there might be an annual rope access inspection, and the operative might well have a small pot of limewash on his belt and a brush for merely 'touch-up' work, but nothing on this scale.

“It might be that if this upcoming limewash is worn away in less than five years, we will have to look again at the number of coats or the application method as it is an expensive way of maintaining the place.”

The work has been carried out by SG Access, advised by LimeRich.