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Over centuries, the Irish built a rich heritage of castles and monuments, using an abundance of local stone. Now many of the structures are damaged. The stone is decaying. Thanks in part to Ireland’s notoriously damp weather, these sites are in danger of disappearing entirely.

This tower in Western County Galway is all that’s left of what was once a fortress. The family that’s owned it for generations now faces a 1.5 million-dollar restoration bill, and grants from the state will cover only 2 percent of that.

“It’s like a drop in the ocean, you know, and doesn't come … really we're making 32,000 in euro available for something that’s estimated that can cost a million pounds.”

And delays in financing only mean more time for nature to erode the nation’s treasures. At the state-owned religious site of Clonmacnoise, architects have replaced two historic stone crosses withreplicas, putting the originals away to protect them from further erosion. They recently put a whole church under wraps. But this kind of protection is costly, and impossible on a wide scale. Heritage Council reports suggest that there could be a more practical way.

“We will have to keep working to see what other methods of intervention can be brought in, into place. It will never stop decay, but at least it may hopefully arrest.”

Stopping the decay is the goal of conservation that’s nurturing the Clonfert Cathedral. The church itself cannot afford to replace the open mortar joints where water has entered, and caused major deterioration in the sandstone. So a Heritage Council grant has helped start reservation work on this 12th century Romanesque doorway.

Are getting some leaching from this wall…

Some previous restorations have done more harm than good.

We have here evidence of mortar repairs which contain…

Portland cement, an ingredient used in concrete and mortars has accelerated itsstructural damage to many stones. In a race against the elements, masons are now replacing it with a better line-based mortar. Some architects are worried about cheap and untested alternatives, but government grants for restoration projects are scarce. The Heritage Council says that without new methods and new sources of money, a vital part of Irish culture will simplycrumble away.