National Trust Work

Capstone has worked for the National Trust over the last 15 years on a vast variety of their properties ranging from the internationally revered through to their lesser known tenanted rural farmsteads. John Ruddy is also a life member of the National Trust, and enjoys visiting properties further afield whilst on holiday with his family. Projects Capstone has worked on include:

Little Moreton Hall

Grade I, 1508 half timbered manor house , East Cheshire: external timber frame repairs.

Dunham Massey Hall Estate

200 acre estate in Cheshire. Assessment and advice on properties on the estate

Lyme Park

Grade I, the largest house in Cheshire, seated within a magnificent parkland setting. Projects have been undertaken within the long gallery within the house, within the wider estate and at the stable block. Capstone undertook the full design, planning application and listed building consent application for major alterations to the II* stable block associated with the installation of a biomass heating system for the estate.

Speke Hall

Grade I, 1530 to 1598 oak framed Tudor manor house on the outskirts of Liverpool. Capstone's work has included internal alterations and structural repairs in connection with the conversion of the stable block into a tea room.

Gawthorpe Hall

Grade I Elizabethan country house in Lancashire dating from 1600 onwards. Capstone's work for the Trust has including a detailed assessment and repair proposals for the walled garden to the Hall.

Tatton Park

Grade I 1780s Neo-classical country house set within a deer park estate in Cheshire. Jointly managed with the local authority. Numerous projects over the years, including repairs to the house roofs, extensive timber repairs to the upper floors and roof of the 'Sheep Stealer's Tower', repairs and alterations at the Home Farm buildings, and the design of a new timber footbridge at Tatton Old Hall.

Yorkshire Dales Field Barns

Involvement in a rolling programme of initial inspection, design of structural repairs, and site visits during the repair contracts for a number of field barns, all within incredible settings across the Yorkshire Dales National Park.